


Vampire's Desire

by EmeraldTrash666



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Comedy, Gen, I ACCIDENTALLY UPDATED THE WRONG FIC OOPS, NO ONE SAW THAT ALRIGHT YOU SAW NOTHING
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-03 23:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21187397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTrash666/pseuds/EmeraldTrash666
Summary: In their untouchable immortal lives, for what do vampires yearn? Companionship? The blood of innocents? The freedom to walk about in the sunlight? The humanity they lost long ago?No, they just want some damn wi-fi in their tomb. If only the pesky Egyptian law enforcement would stop ruining all their fun.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, everyone!  
Warning for gore, death, etc. It's Cool They're Feeling Better Now™.

_ Djanet, Lower Egypt. 1003 B.C. _

Atem peeked cautiously around the corner, keeping close to the wall as he scanned the room for danger. He watched the lone guard closely, tracking his slow steps, judging the distance between the guard and the wall, the time it would take him to turn around; When the moment was right, he motioned to continue, and quickly made his move.

He stayed light on his feet as he dashed across the courtyard, moving quickly, yet taking care to stay quiet. Despite the risk, it wasn’t all that hard; Atem knew every column, every stone, every door by heart, every source of light, every blind spot from every position. He knew how the guard moved, and exactly where to stand to avoid his field of vision. Within seconds, he’d reached the other end of the courtyard, and turned around to face his companion.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, grinning.

Yugi nodded, smiling in return.

Atem continued on, moving at a more relaxed pace now that they’d made it past the guards. As he neared the exit, he turned around to flash Yugi a confident grin, and-

“Isn’t it a bit past your bedtime?”

The color suddenly drained from Atem’s face as he froze, sharing an alarmed look with an equally-pale Yugi before turning towards the source of the voice.

“Come on… Don’t you think we’re a little old to have a curfew?” he said, trying his best to sound casual, though his nervous smile did him no favors.

Siamun raised an eyebrow, with arms crossed. “Really? Because your father certainly doesn’t seem to think so. Who am I to go against the wishes of the Pharaoh?”

Atem and Yugi exchanged nervous glances.

“Nice try, Your Highness, but don’t think I don’t know what you two are doing,” Siamun said dryly, and then shook his head in dismay. “For goodness’ sake... Night after night you two pull this stunt, always dressing up like civilians and sneaking out to go play senet or whatever it is you do- Don’t you understand how dangerous this is?” he scolded them. “I mean, what if something were to happen? If someone were to recognize you, out there in the city? Worst case scenario, you could get hurt! And best case scenario-”

Atem rolled his eyes. He’d heard this speech before. Yuugi shuffled his feet awkwardly, waiting not-so-patiently for Siamun to finish.

“-Best case scenario, the whole city knows that the heirs to the throne- With-all-due-respect-my-dear-sweet-princes- Are reckless, disobedient, and constantly goofing off, and the Pharaoh himself can’t control his own children! I mean, think about how this is going to reflect on your father! On _ yourselves, _even!”

Atem blinked. “Um-”

Siamun sighed as he continued. “Honestly, I don’t understand it… The gods blessed our kingdom with two wonderful princes- Smart, kind, thoughtful, brave, quick-witted, healthy, handsome, maybe a little short but that’s hardly an issue- And yet this is the_ one thing _ you just can’t seem to behave on? Why? Do you have any idea how much stress you cause your father with this, my dear princes? How much stress you cause _ me? _ For decades I have served as your father’s advisor, and nothing, absolutely _ nothing, _ has ever tested my patience quite as much as-”

“Bye!” Yugi suddenly blurted out, and before Atem had time to react, he was being pulled along by the hand as Yugi ran like there was no tomorrow.

“Wha- Hey! Your Highness, get back here this instant!” Atem heard Siamun shout after them, but he didn’t bother looking back. He followed Yugi, running alongside him at full speed until the palace was far behind them.

Once they were sure they were sufficiently out of reach of Siamun’s wrath, Yugi and Atem paused, stopping by the side of a building to catch their breath.

“Well that was a hell of a chewing-out,” Atem gasped, wiping the sweat from his brow and shaking his head in disbelief. 

Yugi nodded, even as he continued to breathe heavily. “Yeah…”

As the two recovered their strength, they stood up straight again, glancing around to get their bearings.

“I hope we’re not late for the tournament,” Atem commented. “Do you remember where it is?”

Yugi frowned in concentration. “I… think so..? It’s by the clinic, right?”

Atem nodded. “Yeah, I just don’t remember exactly where that is,” he explained. 

“Well, we’ll figure it out. I know the general direction it’s in, anyway,” Yugi said with a shrug. “Come on, let’s hurry.”

Atem nodded, and followed Yugi down the street.

* * *

“Yknow, I kinda feel bad about earlier,” Yugi admitted as they walked. “I mean, maybe Grandpa Siamun is right… Maybe we shouldn’t be making him and dad worry so much. ...Let’s see, I think it’s this way?” he muttered to himself, turning down a side alley.

Atem shrugged as he followed Yugi. “We’re not ‘making’ them worry. They’re the ones worrying. They’re just paranoid, that’s all,” he insisted, turning around to face Yugi with a nonchalant expression, casually walking backwards as he spoke. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like we’re gonna somehow suddenly up and die by going out to play some-”

Atem was interrupted by a loud_ thud, _and the sensation of being grabbed from behind.

“What the hell?!” he gasped softly.

Yugi stared in open-mouthed shock, momentarily at a loss for words. Where just seconds ago there had been nothing but empty road, there was now a young man with bone-white hair, holding Atem from behind and… Licking his lips?

“Well, well… What have we here?” the stranger said, in a teasing voice that somehow sent chills down Atem and Yugi’s spines. “What an interesting surprise… I go out looking for dinner, and what do I find, but two little lost princes?” he sneered, tightening his grip.

For a brief moment, Atem was immobilized by surprise and panic; Upon regaining his senses, instinct kicked in, and years of training with his uncle flashed through his mind. Without a moment’s hesitation, he twisted around, elbowed his assailant in the ribs, and stepped behind him with one foot, angling his leg to line up with the back of the man’s knee. A little lean backwards, and it didn’t take much for his attacker to fall to the ground- But not without pulling Atem down with him. His grip on Atem slipped, and Atem felt fingernails drag against his arm hard enough to draw blood.

“Oh, now I’m extra hungry,” the man snarled, in an almost inhuman growl. Suddenly, he grabbed Atem once again, and pushed him against the wall with frightening force, lifting him off the ground.

“No! Put him down!” Yugi shouted, slamming all his weight against the man’s side- But all it took was one swipe of an arm, and Yugi was thrown backwards, collapsing to the ground with a gasp.

Driven by his anger at seeing Yugi hurt, Atem struggled against his attacker; He did not succeed. The strange white-haired man opened his mouth, like a crocodile going in for the kill, and Atem’s eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of what were definitely fangs-

Atem felt a crushing pain in his neck, and barely had time to hear Yugi’s horrified scream before it was all over.

* * *

Atem was awoken by the distinct sensation of something red-hot burning against his chest. Within a second, he was up, swatting against the offending object with a quiet exclamation of “Ouch!”

As the burning gradually began to fade, resolving the immediate problem, Atem was suddenly now faced with the state of being _ awake. _He groaned, placing a hand on his face; Where was he? And… Why did he hear screaming?

“V… Vampire! Vampire!” a man shrieked, pointing with wide-eyed horror in Atem’s direction. Atem whirled around, memories suddenly coming flooding back, ready to run- But there was no one behind him, he realized. Confused by the empty space, Atem found himself taking in his surroundings for the first time… And feeling a growing sense of dread as he slowly put all the pieces together.

A quiet, dark room. Priests, wearing jackal headdresses. Knives, jars, oils, a metal hook. A wooden table beneath him. Fragments of a carnelian amulet on the ground.

Atem did not hear the pounding in his ears that normally came with the fear he felt as he slowly looked down at himself.

His fingernails had grown long and sharp, more like claws than true nails; His skin seemed dull and greyed, like old, tarnished copper that had lost its shine. On top of it, a fresh burn sat in the middle of his chest, in a shape that looked eerily identical to a wedjat.

“...Oh,” he whispered quietly.

He did not feel the frantic beating of a heart in his chest.

The priests- Atem counted four of them- Continued to scream. One reached for one of the dissection scalpels, brandishing it awkwardly with shaking, confused hands; The smarter of them grabbed a staff topped by an ankh.

“S-Stay back, monster!” the knife-wielding priest stammered, pointing his knife threateningly at Atem.

Atem put his hands up, instinctively leaning back slightly. “Wait, hold on, I’m not going to-”

“Run and tell the high priests, quickly!” the priest with the staff shouted. “The prince has been turned!”

The last two priests wasted no time in running out of the room, shouting in fear as they did so.

“Calm down, please, I swear I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Atem insisted, still holding his hands up in surrender.

“You expect us to believe that, monster!?” the knife-priest exclaimed.

“The oils, get the oils,” the staff-priest shouted to his companion as Atem recoiled in offense.

“Watch your tongue, priest!” he snapped. “How dare you call a prince such a name?”

The priest shook his head. “No, you’re… You’re not Prince Atem- May his soul live in peace-” he insisted. “You’re nothing but a demon that stole the good prince’s body!”

“I’m _ not _ a demon!” Atem argued. “I _ am _ Prince Atem, son of Pharaoh Akhenamkanon, and I haven’t even _ done _ anything to you so stop with the-”

Atem didn’t get to finish speaking, instead screaming as something hot splashed against his back. Turning around quickly, he saw an empty oil jar on the ground, the second priest glaring at him.

“Leave the prince’s body! You don’t belong in this world!”

Atem hissed in pain as the holy oil dripped down his back like a flame, he saw more jars in the priest’s hands-

Stumbling in pain, Atem fled from the room as quickly as he could.

* * *

Yugi sat in his room.

That was it. He just… Sat. Nothing more. He found himself doing that rather often lately; He didn’t really have it in him to do anything else.

It had only been a month since the night his brother had died, yet it simultaneously felt like it had been forever, and no time at all. Yugi felt hollow, empty, like he’d lost a part of himself; He kept instinctively expecting Atem to be by his side, always turning to make a comment or shoot Atem a shared expression, always trying to say good morning and good night, and every time he had to remind himself that Atem wasn’t there. And every time, it hurt just as much.

If he was being honest, the past month had been nothing but a blur of devastation and confusion to Yugi. He only really knew it had been a month because he’d heard someone mention it. The future was equally as dull and murky, both for Yugi, and for the country- Already people were starting to express their doubts about the future of the dynasty. A king stricken with grief and guilt to the point that he’d taken ill; A prince so traumatized, no trace of the cheerful, energetic disposition he’d been so known for seemed to remain. Already Yugi was hearing talk of his cousin Seto inheriting the throne, and while he might have had a thousand objections once upon a time, now he just couldn’t seem to care. Whatever. Let Seto have the throne, if that was what people wanted; Nothing mattered anymore.

In the days following Atem’s death, security around the palace and the city had tightened tenfold. Yugi, of course, had been explicitly forbidden from leaving the palace without an escort under any circumstances- Not that it mattered much, since he had no desire to go out (nor do anything else, really). His uncle, Akhenadin, along with Seto, had taken charge of a vampire-hunting task force. There were two purposes to this mission: First, to prevent any further casualties, and second… To put the late Prince Atem to rest.

...Yugi had felt a brief spark of hope when he’d first heard about the incident in the embalming workshop, the night after Atem’s death. Of course he had- Who wouldn’t be happy to hear that their dead loved one had come back to life? But it wasn’t really Atem, they said. It was a monster, a demon that looked and sounded and acted like Atem, but had no human soul, no capability or desire to do anything other than kill. Eradicating the vampire was the only way to purify Atem’s body and allow his soul to pass into the afterlife, the adults had said. They _ had _ to kill Atem again, they’d said, it was the only way.

(There has been a funeral, of course, an early and farcical one. The family had dutifully mourned an empty coffin.)

He wouldn’t admit it out loud- he’d learned very quickly what kind of reaction _ that _ got him- But Yugi, frankly, hated this idea. Killing Atem a second time… It didn’t sit right with him at all. And maybe his family was right, maybe he was just clinging to false hope, maybe grief and denial were clouding his judgement, but… There had been no casualties. Even the embalmers who had witnessed Atem’s resurrection had been left completely unharmed. If this undead Atem truly was nothing but a mindless monster, wouldn’t he have killed them, or at least tried to? It didn’t make sense. Something just wasn’t lining up.

And so, Yugi kept his objections to himself… But at times, when the gods mercifully (or perhaps not-so-mercifully) granted him the ability to feel something other than numbness or sorrow, when he wasn’t staring idly at a blank wall with not a thought in his head, he hoped. He hoped, quietly, that Atem was safe, that no harm would come to him at the hands of his own family. 

He hoped, perhaps more than anything else, that he could see him one day. He wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his brother, human or vampire, he didn’t care; He and Atem had been unusually close from the day they were born. They’d always hated being separated, even for just a day.

If Atem was out there somewhere, in any form, Yugi wanted to be with him. He _ had _ to be.

For the time being, though, Yugi sat. He spent a while debating with himself which was a worse option- The misery of being awake, or the endless nightmares of his brother’s gruesome murder- But couldn’t seem to make up his mind, and so by default he simply sat doing nothing. His room was just as boring as it was every night: Full of things, yet emotionally empty, with the same old walls and the same old bed, the same old senet board he hadn’t touched in weeks, the same old half-eaten bowl of nuts that had been there since he abandoned it two hours ago, the same old boring floor he stared at every day and the same old boring ceiling he stared at every night.

A flash of movement near the ceiling caught Yugi’s attention, prompting him to glance up on reflex. 

It was, to Yugi’s mild surprise, a bat. Even in his depressed state, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the creature; It must have flown in through the courtyard, and gotten lost in a hallway by mistake. The poor thing must have been so confused, he thought. Maybe he could-

Yugi gasped as the bat crashed into a wall, and then- To his much, much stronger surprise- A person fell to the ground.

“Oww…”

Atem groaned, rubbing at the top of his head as he pulled himself slowly to his feet.

“Atem!” Yugi exclaimed, face lighting up with the brightest smile he’d made in a long time. It struck him as odd how Atem froze as he saw him, with an uncharacteristic expression of genuine fear- But Yugi had already begun to move on instinct, throwing himself against Atem in an enthusiastic hug.

Atem gasped, stumbling backwards slightly. “Yugi-”

“You came back!” Yugi cheered. “I’m so glad! I missed you so much, I don’t know what to do without you, I love you so so much and I miss you so much and everyone said you’re evil now but I knew they were wrong because I know you and I know you’re a good person and I love you and- And, and I just miss you so much and I’m so sorry I’m really glad you’re here Atem I miss you _ so much!” _ Yugi sobbed into Atem’s shoulder, too overwhelmed to be coherent.

Atem remained frozen stiffly in place at first, but gradually, hesitantly relaxed, until he eventually returned the hug. 

“Y-Yeah… I… I miss you too. I love you too,” he replied softly, his voice tired.

For a while, they simply stayed there, holding each other. After a moment, Yugi took a deep breath, and quickly let go- Although he just as soon grabbed Atem’s hands, holding them tightly between them.

“Listen. You can’t stay here,” Yuugi told Atem seriously, with wide eyes. “If anyone sees you, they’ll kill you.”

Atem sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Yugi wondered.

“I…”

...Atem paused, glancing away. He bit his lip, and there was no mistaking the sharp fangs that peeked out from behind it.

“...I just wanted to see you,” he admitted quietly. “It’s… Really hard, being alone. I can’t stand living without you. I just wanted to see you again, even if it was just for a minute…” He sniffled, and Yugi could see tears shining in his (once violet, now red) eyes. “I- I didn’t mean for you to see me. I’m sorry. I should go now.”

Yugi watched as Atem pulled away, and began making his way towards the door. He walked slowly, unsteady on his feet; His expression seemed tense, as if he were struggling to focus.

“Hey, are you ok? You don’t look so good,” Yugi said, frowning in concern.

“Well, I am dead,” Atem joked- But lacked his usual fire, his laugh more akin to a gasp, his smirk weak and forced. He continued on, but wavered suddenly, as if he were about to fall; He caught himself against the wall, slumping heavily against it and grimacing as he wiped his eyes.

The more Yugi watched him, the more he realized Atem looked… Absolutely terrible. His hair was a disheveled mess, and the only clothes he wore were a dirty, wrinkled shendyt and a tattered old linen shawl; His greyish, lifeless skin was drenched with sweat, and Yugi noted extensive scars on Atem’s throat, chest, and back. His breathing was heavy and ragged, his expression pained.

Yugi ran to Atem’s side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Atem insisted, shaking his head. “I’m fine, it’s just-”

He suddenly doubled over, clutching his stomach with both arms and groaning in pain through clenched teeth.

“I’m fine,” he gasped after a few seconds, even as Yugi’s steadying grip was the only thing keeping him upright.

“No, you’re not,” Yugi argued. “Look at you, you can barely stand up! Just tell me what’s wrong,” he pleaded.

Atem sighed, and went quiet for a moment. Finally, he looked away, bowing his head in shame.

“...I’m hungry,” he admitted, barely a whisper.

Yugi’s eyes widened with worry. “You’re hungry?” he repeated.

Atem nodded weakly. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, so I just… You know… Haven’t-”

“So you’ve been starving yourself?!” Yugi blurted out in realization.

“Well when you put it that way, it almost sounds bad,” Atem mumbled.

“Atem, it _ is _ bad!” Yugi insisted, eyes wide with utter horror. “Look what you’re doing to yourself! That’s horrible! I mean, there has to be _ something _ you can do… If you keep this up-”

Atem sighed. “Listen. The thing is… I don’t care anymore,” he explained. “Living like this is horrible. There’s no point to it! I’m completely alone, my whole family- No, the whole damn _ city _ wants me dead. I spend all day hiding wherever I can, at night there’s nothing to do…” He paused a moment, wincing and rubbing at his forehead. He took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. “The only- The only good thing I have left in my life is the knowledge that I haven’t gone against my morals. I’d rather starve to death with some pride left than hurt people just so I can… keep doing nothing.”

For a moment, Yugi simply stared, too shocked to say anything. He felt as if his mind didn’t know what to think when he looked at Atem, if he should feel joy at finally reuniting with him, or sadness for the state he was in.

It suddenly hit him that, one way or another, they wouldn’t be able to stay together. It was too dangerous for Atem to remain at the palace- Regardless of how either of them felt about it, Atem had no choice but to leave. Life would simply return to the way it had been for the past month: Yugi, depressed and lost without his twin, spending every day wallowing in despair and watching his father’s health decline; And Atem, scared and sick and alone, constantly on the run until the day he would inevitably starve to death. ...Or, alternatively, Atem could stay for as long as possible, until someone came in and saw him, and then Yugi would have to watch as his brother was killed before his eyes a second time. And then he would be alone for good.

Yugi’s heart sunk. He felt trapped. All three options sounded like nightmares; The thought of losing Atem a second time, of having to live without him for the rest of his life, was simply too much to bear. Yugi’s mind desperately searched for something, _ anything _ he could do, any tiny little sliver of a chance at another way out-

...Something suddenly occurred to him, and within seconds, Yugi had made his decision. 

“Take my blood.”

Atem blinked, not sure he’d heard correctly. “What?”

“Drink my blood. Make me a vampire,” Yugi repeated. “Let’s run away together.”

“Yugi, are you crazy?! Why would you ask for something like that?!” Atem gasped, eyes widening in horror.

“Because… Because I don’t care either!” Yugi blurted out. “I can’t take this. I want to be with you. We’ve always been together- I can’t stand living without you, I just can’t,” he insisted, shaking his head. “I don’t want to live like this, and I know you don’t, either, so- So let me be a vampire too! We can run away, somewhere they’ll never find us, and then as long as we’re together we can figure out where to go from there. Please?”

Atem took a deep breath. “If… If I did that… You could never go back,” he told Yugi solemnly. “And besides, where would we even go?”

Yugi paused to think about it.

“...Waset,” he decided after some thought.

“Waset?” Atem repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Yugi nodded. “It’s…. A little morbid, but… We could live in the valley. We’d be safe from sunlight, and nobody lives there, so there wouldn’t be as much of a risk of getting caught. Besides, what are they gonna do? Kick us out of our own tomb?” he added.

“...I… guess..?” Atem replied, frowning in confusion. “It’s-” He winced. “It’s as good an idea as anything, I guess, but… Still… Are you sure about this? Really sure?” he asked quietly.

Yugi nodded once again. “I’m serious. I’ve been miserable without you. It doesn’t matter what the conditions are- I want to stay together. Please.”

Atem closed his eyes, taking a moment to let himself come to terms with this answer.

“Alright,” he finally gave in.

Yugi let out a sigh of relief, and smiled. “Thank you.”

“If we’re going to do this… Maybe you should lie down,” Atem suggested. “It’d probably be more comfortable for you that way. I’ll, um… I-I’ll do my best to be quick,” he promised.

Yugi obediently lay down on the bed, and Atem knelt down by his side, wavering slightly in his dizziness. As he glanced at Yugi, preparing to do the deed, the gravity of the situation suddenly hit him: He was about to kill his own brother.

Suddenly, Atem wasn’t sure if he could really do it. Sure, he’d come back, but he’d still die; Could Atem really do that to him? Could he really put Yugi through that kind of pain? 

_ Should _he?

His hesitation must have been clear on his face, as Yugi offered him a reassuring smile, and reached for his hand. 

“It’s alright. Go on,” Yugi told him, still holding Atem’s hand as he held out his other wrist.

Atem took a deep breath, and nodded. “Right.” 

Before he could hesitate any further, he brought Yugi’s wrist to his face; He met Yugi’s gaze for only a brief second before biting down.

“Ouch!” Yugi muttered.

Despite his exclamation, it didn’t really hurt- It felt more like a pinch, Yugi thought. And yet the effects set in suddenly, as Atem remained true to his word, sucking at the wound on Yugi’s wrist as quickly as he could. Yugi shuddered, suddenly growing cold, feeling himself grow dizzy; He felt Atem gently stroke his head just as it began pounding with pain, and he soon fell unconscious.

* * *

Atem gave one last suck before pulling away. He gently placed Yugi’s hand back down by his side, wiped his mouth on the back of his own hand, and sighed, stretching out slightly as his body gradually regained its strength. And then, he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The more seconds passed, the more nervous Atem became; How long would it take for Yugi to wake up? How long had it taken _ him, _anyway? (He, of course, had no idea, as he’d died in an alleyway and woken up in a morgue- It could have been hours, or days, he didn’t know.)

What if… What if he’d screwed up, somehow? What if it hadn’t worked, and Yugi was just… Dead? Although, frankly, even if that weren’t the case, it was still taking far too long for comfort- If some unwitting person were to walk in and see Atem standing over Yugi’s corpse, that_ really _ wasn’t going to do him any favors in the convincing-his-family-he-wasn’t-a-murderous-demon department.

Atem tentatively poked Yugi, wondering if he were simply asleep. “Yugi?”

No response.

“Yugi? Hello?” Atem shook Yugi’s shoulder, genuine panic beginning to set in. “Hey, come on, wake up, you can’t-”

Yugi suddenly gasped, bright red eyes shooting open with a jolt.

“We should leave a note,” Yugi blurted out, without hesitation.

Atem blinked in surprise. “Oh… uh… Alright, if you want,” he replied, frowning confusedly.

Yugi yawned, and sat up, stretching out in much the same way Atem had not too long ago; He stared down at his newly-clawed hands thoughtfully for a moment, contemplating this new form, before shrugging and standing up.

He walked over to the desk, where a stack of pottery shards sat next to a writing set. He took a blank piece in one hand, a reed brush in the other, and hurried to mix the ink as he wrote in hastily-scrawled hieratic.

_ Mom, dad, everyone: _

_ I’ve run away to live with Atem. This isn’t anyone’s fault, and it’s no one’s idea but my own. Atem isn’t evil- He’s scared, and lonely. I’m scared and lonely too. As long as we stick together, I know we’ll be alright, which is why I’m doing this. We’re twins, after all. We were born together, and we’ll die together; That’s why I have to go with him. I’m making this choice of my own free will, but I can’t imagine possibly choosing any other path. _   
_ Please don’t come looking for us, and don’t beat yourselves up over this, either. I love you very much, I always have and I always will. Atem does, too. We’ll miss you always. We just want to live our lives in peace, and we’re not going to bother anyone, so please don’t come after us. I don’t want to fight. _ _   
Goodbye, I’m sorry, and thank you for everything. I love you._

_ Yugi _

Yugi wiped his eyes as he put his brush down. Writing out his thoughts had… Brought more emotions to the surface than he had quite expected, but there was no time to dwell on them; He’d made his choice. He took a breath, squared his shoulders, and nodded to himself as he turned back towards Atem.

“Let’s go.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies to anyone who knows more about circa 1965 Egypt than I do. I tried my best :(

_ Thebes, Egypt. 1965. _

If Professor Arthur Hawkins had to pick one word to describe Tomb KV61, it would have been “extraordinary”. Or perhaps “enigmatic”. Or “bizarre”. Or really, maybe it couldn’t be described with just one word after all.

The tomb, located in the southwest half of the Valley of the Kings, dated to ancient Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period- Thus making it one of the last proper burials in the valley, as that era had seen the relocation of many mummies and funerary goods to several caches to avoid a rising threat of tomb robbery, while other tombs still were repurposed for intrusive burials. Not only that, but the tomb was a double burial, and a hasty one at that; Its occupants, identified as two sons of the 21st dynasty Pharaoh Akhenamkanon I, had seemingly died unexpectedly young, and the unfinished state of the tomb’s construction and decoration echoed this.

Professor Hawkins had reason to believe that the tomb may have been the source of a local urban legend, one which dated back to antiquity. The “Tomb of the Two Princes” (as it was colloquially called in Egyptological circles, based off the most complete account of the legend, as written by the Greek historian Herodotus) was a tomb, generally thought to be located somewhere in the southwest portion of the valley, that was said to be cursed. A handful of written accounts from various periods throughout history spoke of such a tomb, warning against entering it under any circumstances; It was there, the rumors said, that the dead came to life, ready to kill any who dared to disturb their eternal rest. Though this legend was thought to have been a contributing factor in the modern notion of ancient Egyptian “curses”, it was generally thought that no such tomb had ever really existed. Now, however, it seemed there was perhaps some factual basis for the legend after all.

All of these things on their own would have most certainly made for a remarkable find, yet that only barely scratched the surface of the mystery of KV61.

What was far more unusual than the origin of the tomb itself was its contents. The tomb was full of anachronisms- Ptolemaic pottery, Byzantine jewelry, Victorian furniture… Several chambers had been cut seemingly as later additions to the main central chamber, far less skillfully carved. The whole tomb was rather well-furnished, set up as if it had been used as a living space. A wide variety of books, gaming sets, and clothing from all different eras filled shelves; One room curiously contained what appeared to be meticulously, almost humorously arranged dioramas of ancient shabti figures, while another contained a small obelisk, among other things.

Of course, it wasn’t at all unheard of for Egyptian tombs to be repurposed in later periods; It wouldn’t have been too unusual for tomb robbers or smugglers to use a particular tomb as a cache, and some tombs had even been used as houses upon occasion. The sheer range of time periods present in KV61, however, made the situation rather bizarre.

Still, despite all the mystery and confusion, the excavation process remained much the same as it would have been for any Egyptian tomb. Photos were taken, notes recorded, artifacts cleaned and carefully packed away into boxes, to be brought back to the museum for study and cataloguing. And, naturally, the two gold sarcophagi were opened, one at a time.

As the lid on the first sarcophagus was lowered to the ground, Professor Hawkins leaned over to look inside, and damn near didn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Holy… Everyone, come look at this,” he gasped.

Inside the sarcophagus was a number of pillows and blankets- And a boy, curled up on his side, dressed in nothing but a traditional ancient Egyptian kilt. The body was so well preserved that were it not for the greyish pallor of the skin, one might have almost thought he was merely asleep.

“Is that… Really a mummy?” one of Professor Hawkins’ students asked, as the designated photographer began snapping photos- Though even she was wide-eyed with shock.

“It must be, but… I don’t believe it. I’ve never seen a mummy anywhere near this well-preserved.”

“He makes Otzi look like a wrinkled old hag,” the oldest member of the excavation crew- Professor Hawkins’ longtime best friend, Sugoroku- agreed. “It’s so sad, though… He looks so young. Reminds me of my son.”

“Maybe it’s from more recent times, an intrusive burial,” another student suggested.

Professor Hawkins nodded. “It’s definitely possible, given the number of anachronisms in this place… Still, even for a recent burial, this is incredibly lifelike,” he admitted, frowning in puzzlement.

“Maybe it’s a kid,” one of the locals suggested, shrugging. “Could have snuck in while we weren’t looking. A prank.”

“How would he have gotten inside the coffin, though?” another retorted.

Professor Hawkins frowned, prodding at the body. “No, he’s definitely-”

_ “Die,”  _ a voice snarled in a language Professor Hawkins didn’t recognize, and before he could process anything, he was slammed against the wall. Screams of terror filled the room as the boy lifted Professor Hawkins far off the ground, glaring at him with an almost animalistic look of rage.

“It’s alive!” someone screamed; Several people fled the room. 

“C-Curse! It’s the curse!”

“This- This has to be a prank, th-this can’t be real,” someone stammered.

“No, look at his eyes!” another student exclaimed.

Professor Hawkins, however, said nothing, too in shock to even scream. The boy jumped up to the Professor’s eye level and opened his mouth, revealing sharp, pointed fangs, and for a moment Professor Hawkins thought to himself  _ dear god, what a way to die- _

Suddenly a loud  _ thud _ disrupted the scene. More people fled as the second sarcophagus opened.

_ “Alright, what’s all the- Woah, woah, hey! Atem, put that guy down!”  _ a second boy (Mummy? Vampire?) exclaimed, rushing over to grab the first one’s shoulder.

_ “He’s a grave robber, Yugi,”  _ the first boy snapped, keeping his grip on the Professor. (Professor Hawkins winced; He suspected he might have broken a bone.)

_ “Yeah, I can see that, but you can’t just kill him,”  _ the other boy argued.  _ “Come on, put him down.” _

_ “He ruined my nap! It’s only fair that I should get to eat him.” _

Professor Hawkins stared in shock, listening to the two boys (Vampires, a distant part of his mind decided, though another insisted there was no such thing) continue to argue. He couldn’t understand the language they spoke, yet it seemed familiar, a few words possibly recognizable; A theory occurred to him, and- Figuring he had nothing to lose- Professor Hawkins hurriedly wracked his brain for what he could remember of hieroglyphics.

“Em… Em hotep!” he blurted out loudly, nervously, hoping his guess was correct.

Fortunately, this seemed to catch their attention, and the first boy loosened his grip somewhat.

_ “You speak Egyptian?”  _ he questioned, eyes widening in surprise.  _ “Hey, Yugi! This guy speaks Egyptian!”  _ he shouted to his companion.

_ “Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve met anyone who knows Egyptian,”  _ the second boy gasped.  _ “Where’d you learn it?” _

Professor Hawkins gave an awkward smile, glancing nervously around the now-nearly-empty room, trying desperately to figure out what they were saying.

_ “Oh… I think he was bluffing,”  _ the second boy sighed, face falling in disappointment. 

The first boy rolled his eyes.  _ “Well, breakfast it is-” _

“W-Wait!” Professor Hawkins pleaded as the boy opened his mouth once more. “Uh, r-ren… Arthur Hawkins!” he shouted, hoping his attempt to communicate- Even without grammar- Would placate them.

“Aw, fucking hell, he’s English.”

Professor Hawkins blinked, startled. The boy spoke with a strange accent, not quite English, not quite Arabic; Professor Hawkins was so shocked to hear him speak that the only thing he could think to say in response was, “Actually, I’m American.”

The vampire-boy rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, and I’m  _ Lower _ Egyptian,” he said sarcastically. “It’s the same bloody thing, idiot.”

“No it’s not,” the other boy corrected him. “England’s American colonies seceeded some time ago, remember? It’s an independent country now.”

“Well, no matter. It won’t make a difference in a moment.”

“Wait, wait!” Professor Hawkins pleaded. “Please, let me explain myself!”

The two boys exchanged glances, and the first one sighed, reluctantly lowering Professor Hawkins to the ground.

“Very well. You have one minute,  _ Mister American, _ to explain why the hell I should have any inclination to do anything other than kill you,” he decided, crossing his arms.

“W-Well, uh, you see… I’m here because I’m an archaeologist. I’m a scientist who studies the past,” Professor Hawkins explained. “My team of researchers and I excavate ancient sites, so that we can study the things we find there, and learn about history. By examining the things ancient people left behind, we can better understand how they would have lived. Our only goal is to learn and educate,” he finished with a decisive nod.

This, evidently, was the wrong answer. Both vampires were quite clearly displeased; The second simply frowned in disapproval, while the first bared his fangs angrily.

“How dare you?!” the first vampire hissed. “How abhorrently entitled do you have to be, to ransack tombs and then praise yourself for your so-called ‘science’? What right do you have to any of these things?” he argued. “You have trespassed upon my home, disturbed me while I was sleeping, stolen my damn  _ furniture-” _ He gestured to the empty room- “And you seriously have the nerve to believe I should spare you, simply because of some stuck-up jumble of Latin?! Humans disgust me,” he spat angrily.

“I agree,” the other vampire said with a frown. “What you’re doing is deeply wrong. I still don’t entirely approve of killing you, but to be frank, it’s far more merciful than the punishment for grave robbery during our time.”

“Which you ought to know, if you truly are such a scholar of history,” the first vampire added sarcastically.

Professor Hawkins paled, images of spinal impalement flashing through his mind; He briefly wondered if maybe death via blood loss wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Well then-”

“Wait!” a fourth voice yelled.

The vampire smacked a hand against his face. “For god’s sake, what  _ now?! _ I’m fucking hungry here, you know!”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was another one,” the second vampire commented idly.

All eyes turned towards the only member of the excavation crew who hadn’t run away: Sugoroku, who…

...Evidently hadn’t actually thought about what to say next.

“I… uh…” he glanced around the room, searching for anything that would give him a clue as to what to say next; His gaze fell on one of the crates of artifacts.

“...Y-You like games! Right? That’s why you have all those gaming sets?” he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Yes. What of it?” the first vampire replied.

Sugoroku took a deep breath, and stood up straight, trying to look confident. “I would like to make a deal with you- Er, Your Majesty,” he added hastily. “Let’s play a game. If I win, you let my friend and I go free. If I lose, you can kill us.”

The first vampire raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. Cute, but no. I see no reason why I should-”

“Hold on, there are four of us!” the second vampire gasped. “We could play four-person pachisi!”

The first vampire groaned. “Yugi, no.”

“Why not? I see no harm in it, and we haven’t had the opportunity to play with four people in… Why, centuries, I think! Come on, let’s play.”

“Absolutely not. It’s far too early for this sort of thing,” the first vampire insisted.

“Please, Atem? Come on, you know you want to,” the second vampire- Prince Yugi, presumably- continued.

The first vampire, Atem, shook his head. “No.”

“Pleeeease?”

“No.”

“I’ll let you play black?”

“I refuse.”

“Please please please please please please please please-”

“Alright, alright! Jesus, enough!” Atem gave in, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Fine. I will agree to your terms, mortal, but don’t think you’ll have an easy victory,” he grumbled.

“Hooray!” Yugi exclaimed, and threw his arms around Atem.

(Atem’s only response was a noise similar to a cat hissing.)

Sugoroku nodded. “I… uh… Thank you for your mercy, Your Highness,” he said awkwardly. “Arthur, come help me open this crate.”

Professor Hawkins nodded, grateful for a moment to breathe as he hurried over to the crate in question.

(“What are you doing?!” he whispered to Sugoroku as he picked up a crowbar.

“My best? I don’t know,” Sugoroku whispered back, shrugging. “Don’t worry- I never lose a game, and you’re second best in the club. We’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” Professor Hawkins sighed, picking up a small wooden box from inside the crate.)

The two turned around to find the vampires sitting on the floor, watching them expectantly. God, they really did look young, Professor Hawkins realized- They couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen, he thought, a little younger than his own children. And yet there was an eerie quality about them, unnatural and unsettling, an inhuman shine to their red eyes that sent shivers down his spine.

Wordlessly, Atem took the box, and emptied out its contents. He unrolled the cloth game board, distributed the pawns, and placed the rectangular dice in the center of the board.

“As a token of our goodwill, I will allow you to take the first move,” he announced, nodding towards Sugoroku. “Good luck,” he added, with a devilish fanged grin.

Professor Hawkins took a deep breath, watching in fear as Sugoroku threw the dice.

* * *

“So… Now what?” Professor Hawkins asked, feeling slightly dazed as he exited the tomb.

(The game, though it had been a victory in the end, had been incredibly close; The undead Prince Atem had grumbled something about early mornings, while Prince Yugi had bid them good day and safe travels- In that bizarrely outdated dialect of his- And cheerfully informed them that if they were ever to come back, they would be killed and eaten without mercy.)

Sugoroku took a deep breath. “Now… Now we head back to the city, find a nice little hole in the wall, and drink until this whole thing is nothing but a bad dream.”

“What about the equipment?” Professor Hawkins muttered.

“Leave it.”

“What’ll we tell the university?”

“Honestly? I have no idea,” Sugoroku admitted with a nervous laugh.

Professor Hawkins swallowed anxiously. He turned around, glancing at the tomb entrance behind him; Looked back, to the gradually darkening horizon ahead of them.

He took a deep breath.

“...Well, if nothing else, I guess it’ll make an interesting story for the kids,” he sighed.

“That’s the spirit!” Sugoroku cheered, clapping his friend on the back. “Now let’s go get blackout drunk and pretend this whole thing never happened.”

* * *

“Well that was… Interesting,” Yugi commented as he rolled up the pachisi board, switching back to his native Egyptian now that their foreign guests had left.

Atem sighed. “Man, and here I was really looking forward to eating those guys… It’s been forever since we had any human blood…” he muttered. “Can’t believe we got woken up for nothing… God, what year is it, anyway? Did we kick the English out yet?” he wondered, running a hand down his face tiredly.

“Well, let’s go find out.”

Yugi closed the lid on the wooden game box, and stood up. Atem followed suit with a yawn, and the two headed out of the bedroom and towards a back room.

As they walked through the living room, they frowned at the wooden crates that seemed to have replaced all of their furniture, stripping their once-cozy home almost completely bare. At the same time, it was surprisingly messy; Their unwanted guests had left behind a number of items, including various metal tools, brushes, brightly painted yardsticks, and artificial lights. (Atem winced slightly at the brightness.)

“At least the library’s still mostly in one piece,” Yugi commented. The room had clearly been entered- Judging by the sandy footprints on the floor- Yet the contents of the room were fairly intact, including the shelves full of books and scrolls.

The books, however, were not what Yugi and Atem were interested in at that particular moment. Instead, they headed right towards the small granite obelisk in the center of the room, and began reading the hieroglyphs that covered its sides.

“Let’s see… It says it’s the 21st of the second month of flood season,” Yugi read. “October 31st, by the current calendar. I guess they’re still using a Christian calendar,”

“Ohhh, that does _ not _ bode well for getting rid of the English,” Atem muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.

“No, it looks like they did leave,” Yugi realized, squinting slightly in thought as he read another side of the obelisk. “Apparently Egypt has a president now- With an Arabic name, looks like.”

“Huh. Well, that’s something, I guess.”

“As for the year…” Yugi walked back around to the previous side. “2968. 1965 by the current calendar.”

Atem went quiet for a moment, staring up at the obelisk with a blank expression.

“...Right. Well. I’m going back to sleep,” he announced, and turned around with a lazy wave.

“No you’re not,” Yugi replied, voice calm yet grip firm as he stopped Atem by the shoulder.

Atem turned his head to glare at Yugi. “And why not?”

“We have to clean up,” Yugi explained.

“You expect me… To  _ clean? _ On only 112 years of sleep?” Atem demanded, clenching a fist against his chest dramatically, baring his fangs in a sneer of disgust.

“You’re seriously going to go to sleep with the house looking like this? It looks like a sandstorm hit this place!” Yugi argued, gesturing to the living room outside the doorway. “I mean, come on. What would mom say?”

“Nothing, she’s dead.”

Yugi sighed. “Look, at the very least we have to put the furniture back. Besides, 112 isn’t that bad.”

“I need at  _ least  _ another decade before I can be functional,” Atem insisted.

Yugi rolled his eyes, and walked around to look at a different side of the obelisk.

“Sunset’s in two hours and 42 minutes- Help me put the living room back together, and then we can go get you some coffee, alright?” he suggested, a little bit more gently.

Atem gave an irritated hiss, but followed Yugi out of the room nonetheless.

Once they’d returned to the living room, Yugi paused for a moment. He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the room as he considered where to start. (Atem, on the other hand, surveyed Yugi, wondering how in the world his own twin brother could possibly be a _ morning person.) _

“Hmm… I guess we should start by opening these crates,” Yugi decided after some thought. “This one looks pretty big, so I bet the table’s in here.”

Atem gave a somewhat bored hum, glancing instead at the two large lights that lay on the ground on opposite ends of the room; The brightness irritated him. 

Meanwhile, Yugi slipped a claw under the top of the crate, loosening the construction. He pulled at it, and tore off the wooden top with ease, paying no mind to the loud  _ crunch _ it made as the wood ripped apart.

“Oh, I was wrong. It’s the couch,” he announced, pulling it out of the crate. A pile of crumpled pieces of paper and mysterious white puffs spilled out along with it; Yugi held the couch up off the ground and shook it out, letting several more white puffs fall off its surface, before gently putting it down.

“This is just going to get more messy as we go along, isn’t it,” he realized, sighing. “I’m gonna go see if I can find a basket to put all this garbage in.”

“You do that, I’m gonna turn off these lights,” Atem decided. “They’re giving me a headache.”

As Yugi headed towards the kitchen, Atem crouched down next to the nearest light, squinting and putting a hand over his eyes. He positioned himself and the light so that he was behind it, and-

A flash of motion caught his eye. He shot out his hand quickly- But not quickly enough, as a small lizard scurried away, just barely escaping his grasp.

Atem sighed, and returned his attention to the light. So much for breakfast.

“...Yknow, maybe I’m just tired,” he began as Yugi returned, “But I can’t figure out how to turn this damn thing off.”

Yugi frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?” he asked, putting the basket down and walking over to Atem.

“There’s just… No way to turn it off, not that I can see anyway,” Atem insisted as Yugi crouched down by his side. “There’s no opening to blow into, and I don’t see a valve, either.”

“Hmm, that’s weird…” Yugi agreed. His perplexed expression deepened, and he picked up the light, turning it around and searching for a shutoff. “What’s with this rope?” he wondered, fingering the smooth yellow cord that extended from the back of the light.

“Maybe they were scared the lamp would try to run away,” Atem deadpanned jokingly.

“Who knows- Oh!” Yugi gasped, as the light suddenly went out.

“Hey, you got it!” Atem cheered. “How’d you turn it off?”

“I think this little wedge-shaped bit here is a switch,” Yugi answered, pointing to the feature in question. He pressed on it, and sure enough, the light turned back on; Pressed it a second time, and the light turned off.

“Huh… Good to know, I guess,” Atem said with a shrug, and went to turn off the other light.

Atem switched the second light off, and snapped his fingers; The torch sconces on the walls lit almost instantaneously, filling the room with a warm light, yet emitting no smoke.

“I wonder where those ropes go, anyway?” he muttered with idle curiousity.

“Why don’t you go find out?” Yugi suggested, as he ripped open another crate with a loud  _ crunch. _

Atem paused for a moment, debating this concept, before shrugging and following the yellow cords away from the lights.

“Oh, looks like they go outside,” he realized, peeking around the doorway to the long, steep shaft that led to the front door. “Guess we’ll have to check it out later, then.”

“Put them in the corner for now,” Yugi told him, as he dug through the next crate.

Atem nodded, and snapped the yellow rope near the base of the lamp. He paused for a moment, raising an eyebrow; interestingly, the inside of the cord was frayed, with a scraggly grey material that almost looked like…

“...Metal..?” Atem mumbled to himself, tilting his head and frowning.

Curious, Atem picked up the broken rope and licked it. To his surprise, he felt a jolt, a strange hot tingling sensation on his tongue that made him shiver; He blinked, stunned, and licked it again.

Sure enough, he immediately felt the same shock. He stared at the strange rope with wide eyes, intrigued and amused by this strange new discovery.

“Hey Yugi, come lick this,” he called out.

Yugi frowned, raising an eyebrow at Atem. “Ew, I’m not gonna lick something you just licked,” he retorted.

“Oh, of course, wouldn’t want to catch vampire flu,” Atem said sarcastically.

Yugi huffed. “Look, it’s just gross, ok?”

“We’re twins, it’s basically the same spit anyway,” he muttered, rolling his eyes; Nonetheless, he wiped the end of the rope off on the hem of his shendyt. “There, see? Now it’s clean. Seriously, though, come check this out,” he insisted.

Yugi sighed, and walked over to Atem. 

He took the rope. He held it wordlessly for a moment, staring at Atem almost sarcastically, as if questioning if he was  _ seriously _ supposed to lick it; At Atem’s encouraging nod and bright eyes, Yugi finally licked the rope, and-

He jumped in surprise as he felt the same shock Atem had moments earlier. 

“What the heck..? What was that?” Yugi gasped, giving a slight nervous, confused laugh.

“Weird, right?!” Atem exclaimed with a grin. “I have no idea why it does that.”

“That’s so…” Yugi trailed off in disbelief, and licked the rope again, as if unsure if it had been real the first time. This time, he giggled as he once again felt the shock. “It kinda tickles!”

“Here, here, give it to me, I wanna do it again,” Atem laughed.

Yugi handed the rope over to Atem, and watched as Atem licked it again, laughing at the shock that gave him goosebumps. 

They continued like that for some time, passing the rope back and forth, taking turns shocking themselves between fits of giggles; After a few minutes, though, the novelty wore off, and they put the rope back down, tongues still tingling strangely.

“Alright, let’s get back to work,” Yugi laughed.

Atem nodded, and moved the now-useless light to the corner of the room. Next, he walked over to the other light, where he once again found small lizards bathing in the warmth of the lamp; This time, he was ready, and managed to catch two with a quick and carefully-timed grab.

“Caught some geckos,” he announced. “You want one?”

Yugi shook his head. “Nah, not while we’re busy. Put them away, and we can make a proper breakfast when we’re done cleaning.”

“Not sure what kind of breakfast you expect to make with an empty kitchen, but alright.”

Despite Atem’s comment, the kitchen was not truly “empty”- It was empty of food, as they’d left it before going to sleep (not much point in keeping things that would spoil before they woke up, which was most foods, given that they slept for decades at a time), but seemed mostly untouched by the archaeologists. Atem ignored the geckos’ frantic squirming as he dropped them into a small metal canister, and closed the lid.

He returned to the living room, snapped the cord on the second light, and placed it in the corner with the first one. He then joined Yugi in sorting through the wooden crates, starting with the one that had already been opened.

“Man, what are we gonna do with all this junk?” he wondered, throwing several scraps of paper into the basket.

Yugi shrugged. “Bonfire, I guess?” he suggested as he tossed a piece of wood onto a pile.

They worked in silence for a while, opening crates and sorting through their contents. The good news was that things seemed to be rather meticulously sorted, which made unpacking easy; The bad news was that the more they took out, the more clutter was produced, with bits of wood, paper, and those strange white puffs finding their way into every nook and cranny.

“...Hey, Yugi,” Atem said after a little while, frowning slightly, “Do you smell-”

Atem’s sentence was finished for him- And his question answered- By the sudden _ fwoosh _ of a flame, causing him to jump with wide-eyed surprise. He and Yugi both whirled around to find the pile of wood scraps brightly ablaze, rapidly filling the room with smoke.

“Shit!” Atem cursed.

“What the hell? Why is it on _ fire?!” _ Yugi exclaimed, quickly pulling the couch, coffee table, and the strange tingly yellow cord away. 

“I don’t know!”

“We gotta put it out!” Yugi gasped, coughing and waving the smoke away from his face (not that it did much good).

“Right! Uh…”

Atem searched frantically around the room for something to put the fire out, along with Yugi. Both grew increasingly panicked as the fire grew, smoke nearly obscuring the entire room, and no solution made itself conveniently apparent.

“...I-I’ll go get a blanket!” Atem decided after a few seconds. He ran towards the bedroom, and- Tripped over the couch, falling flat on his face.

Yugi let out a noise of distress, glancing anxiously from Atem to the fire, coughing yet again-

“Oh, screw it,” he muttered, and pulled off the deep blue skirt that wrapped around his waist; He quickly threw it over the fire, and stomped it down for good measure, hissing in pain.

The fire, much to Yugi and Atem’s relief, eventually died down. The smoke, however, remained, black and smelly and stinging their eyes and throats.

“W-We gotta open the back door,” Yugi spluttered through a cough.

“But the sun’s-” Atem paused to cough, pointlessly waving his hand in front of his face- “The sun’s still-” he coughed again, and several more times, before finally wheezing, “Fuck it. Yeah."

Yugi ran to the kitchen, and soon returned with a broom.

“Ready?” he asked, holding the end of the broom in one hand and covering his face with the other, standing to one side of the room.

“Ready,” Atem coughed from the other side of the room.

“Three… Two… One!”

With one swift motion, Yugi thrust the broom upwards, pushing at a panel in the ceiling. Both boys quickly jumped back as sunlight streamed in from the ceiling, lighting up the center of the room.

Atem and Yugi crouched back, watching and waiting for the smoke to dissipate.

“...Yugi?” Atem called out from the bedroom doorway, after a few minutes.

“Yes?” Yugi replied from the kitchen.

“You know this means we can’t go through the living room until sundown, right?”

Yugi was silent for a moment.

“...We are not having a very good morning, are we,” Yugi sighed.

“Nope,” Atem agreed quietly.

Distantly, Yugi wished he hadn’t set his favorite pajama skirt on fire.

* * *

In the end, they really didn’t get much cleaning done. Groggy, hungry, and irritated, they instead decided to ditch their soot-covered mess of a home, head to town, and look for somewhere to grab a snack and catch up on the past hundred years’ worth of news. (And, hopefully, pick up some nice-smelling incense to try to mask the awful stench of… Whatever it was that burned along with the wood. Atem suspected the mystery puffs.)

“The city looks a bit different,” Yugi commented, landing gracefully in an empty alleyway. 

“Yeah, no kidding,” Atem agreed. “Did you see those… Things?”

“What things?” Yugi asked, as he followed Atem out of the alley.

_ “Those _ things.”

Yugi looked all around in awe and curiousity as he stepped out of the alley, and caught his first glimpse of modern Luxor from street level. For the most part, it looked much the same; Some buildings looked distinctly new, yet most had clearly stood for quite some time. People still walked the streets, though their clothes looked quite different, and Yugi even spotted a donkey cart. Yet the streets were also freshly paved, lit with sleek, almost featureless metal lamps and directional signs, and brightly colored lights advertised businesses.

And of course, standing most prominently out against the city streets, it didn’t take long for Yugi to identify the “things” Atem referred to: Strange, shiny, horseless carriages with blindingly bright lights and thick tires. Some simply sat empty and darkened by the side of the road, while others hurried past, roaring and beeping and leaving nasty-smelling smoke trails.

“Are those… Trains?” Yugi wondered, frowning in puzzlement as one of the vehicles in question sped past.

“I guess so,” Atem replied with a shrug. “Can’t imagine what else they’d be. They’re so small, though! And I don’t see any rails… I guess technology’s come pretty far while we were sleeping.”

Yugi shook his head in disbelief. “This whole ‘industrial revolution’ thing is so bizarre. I’m half expecting to find out humans can fly now.”

“Nah, that’s just totally impossible,” Atem insisted, snorting in amusement. “Come on, I think I see a coffee shop.”

Yugi followed Atem down the street and into a small cafe- Still open after dark, as evidenced by the bright blue glowing sign that loudly proclaimed “OPEN”. Yugi wondered idly if humans had started evolving poor eyesight, if such… bold signage was a necessity now.

Shrugging, he pushed open the door and entered the coffee house.

“Evening!” the owner greeted them in cheerful Arabic as they walked in. “Have a seat, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Atem and Yugi gave a polite nod, and glanced around the room, looking for somewhere to sit. The small shop was rather lively, even at such an hour of the evening, with groups of men chatting, smoking, and playing games at every turn. Yugi and Atem quickly located a small, secluded table in the corner, and sat down casually.

“God, I hope they didn’t change currencies again,” Atem whispered to Yugi.

Yugi nodded. “Me too. Remember that time- Woah, what is that?!” he interrupted himself with a gasp, eyes widening at something in the distance.

“Hmm? What’s what?” Atem wondered, turning around to look.

“Look at that… That weird box over there,” Yugi said, pointing towards the back wall. “It’s got moving pictures in it!”

Sure enough, sitting on a stand on the other side of the room was a box, roughly the size of a small oven; A wire antenna sat on top of it, while the front was taken up by a large, slightly curved lens. The lens glowed brightly, projecting a constantly moving (albeit grainy) image, almost as if it were a window into another place.

“Woah… What _ is  _ that?” Atem repeated Yugi’s earlier exclamation, with a more quiet awe.

“Is it magic?” Yugi wondered.

Atem shook his head. “No way. Humans have gotten worse and worse at magic every century. There’s no way they could have somehow developed techniques way more advanced than anything you and I have ever come up with, all within only a hundred years or so,” he pointed out.

Before the conversation could continue, the owner of the shop approached their table. A stocky, round-faced olderman, not quite old yet just a bit wrinkled, whose reddish-olive complexion was as warm as his smile.

“What can I get for you two?”

“Two medium coffees, please, thank you,” Atem answered, in polite Arabic.

The man nodded. “Sure, I’ll have it up in just a minute. By the way, I don’t think I’ve seen you boys around here before- Where are you from?” he asked curiously.

“San el-Hagar,” Atem replied simply, carefully. (It wasn’t a lie, geographically speaking anyway; Sure, maybe they hadn’t lived in the area since long before the city known as San el-Hagar had existed, but it wasn’t like anyone needed to know that particular bit of information, did they?)

“Come to see the sights, then?” the coffee shop owner guessed.

“Oh, no, we’ve recently taken up residence, actually,” Yugi corrected him politely.  _ (That _ answer, on the other hand, was entirely a lie.)

The man raised an eyebrow at Yugi’s phrasing, but didn’t comment on it. “You don’t say! Well, welcome to Luxor, then,” he said with a wide smile and a hearty laugh, giving Yugi and Atem each a clap on the shoulder. “Alright, let me go get those drinks up for you, I’ll be right back.”

Yugi and Atem waited in patient silence, watching the room around them curiously. It was hard to tell if the shop was an old one, or if coffee houses simply hasn’t changed much since they’d last been awake; The lights seemed new, however, and of course the strange picture box was an entirely new concept to the two vampires. Fashion seemed to have changed slightly, too, with a fair number of the shop’s customers dressed in stiff-looking blue pants and plain, short-sleeved shirts that were neither particularly loose nor tight. Others, however, wore more recognizably British garb, and plenty of people still wore the loose-fitted robes Atem and Yugi had grown used to seeing. (And it was a good thing, too; Yugi had worried briefly before they left that their clothes might out them as odd and raise suspicions, but fortunately, they seemed to blend in just fine.)

“You know, your family made a good choice, moving here,” the shop owner commented as he brought over a tray of coffee. “You won’t find a better city than Luxor in the whole country. And we’ve got the best historical sites, too,” he added with a wink. “Cairo thinks they’re so great, with their pyramids and their museum, but I’ll tell you, the Temple of Karnak? Never gets old. You should check out the Valley of the Kings some time, too, the tomb paintings are-”

“Yes, we’re familiar,” Atem interrupted, and then suddenly realized his rudeness. “I mean, uh- We’ve visited the valley before.” He gave an awkward cough.

“Ah, good! Still, it’s worth another visit. Always something new to find over there,” the shop owner insisted. “The best time to go is during the week, when there’s not so many tourists.”

“Thank you, we’ll be sure to heed your advice,” Yugi said with a cordial, closed-lipped smile.

The man couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at this. “I never realized how different the dialects were between here and the delta,” he muttered, shaking his head in amused disbelief.

Atem and Yugi exchanged nervous glances.

“Uh… Yes… Um, how much for the coffee?” Atem asked awkwardly.

“Ah, that’s right! Look at me, forgetting to charge my customers. That’s no way to run a business, huh?” the coffee shop owner joked. “It’s twenty piastres.”

_ “Twenty?!”  _ Atem and Yugi both simultaneously blurted out in surprise. 

The shop owner laughed. “Alright, alright, we’ll make it sixteen. Call it a housewarming gift.”

Yugi and Atem stared at each other with wide-eyed shock, stunned and uncertain what to do.

“Sixteen whole piastres…” Atem whispered, staring down at the table in disbelief. 

The man frowned, growing slightly concerned as he realized that the two boys’ exclamation was sincere, not just superficial social practice. “...Wait, how much does a cup of coffee cost in San el-Hagar?” he muttered confusedly.

Yugi and Atem once again exchanged nervous frowns, as Yugi dug through his pocket for the money they’d brought.

“This is all we have,” he apologized, sheepishly opening his hand to reveal the few coins inside. “I’m terribly sorry, I swear we’ll pay back what we owe… W-We simply didn’t expect such a price…”

The shop owner frowned, squinting slightly at Yugi’s hand. “Hold on, let me see those coins,” he requested.

Yugi wordlessly handed the coins to the coffee house owner. He held them up closer to eye level, turning them over and examining them; Yugi and Atem watched nervously as a number of expressions crossed the man’s face, including surprise, confusion, and intrigue.

“These coins are over a hundred years old,” he realized in shock. “Where did you get these?”

“Uh… You know, holiday money, f-from our grandfather,” Atem lied.

“Huh.”

The man tilted his head in thought, staring at the coins for a few seconds longer, contemplating them.

“...Well, this much money wouldn’t buy you a napkin, but I’ll tell you what. I’m a bit of a history buff myself,” he began. “You kids let me keep these coins, and we’ll call it even, alright? How about it?”

Yugi and Atem both visibly relaxed, sighing in relief.

“Thank you so much, that’s very kind of you,” Yugi told him sincerely.

“We do truly appreciate it,” Atem added with a smile.

The shop owner grinned in response, and nodded before turning away to attend another customer. With that, the two boys were left alone with their drinks.

For a minute or two, they simply held their coffees in both hands, enjoying the warmth of the cup and the sweet smell of the steam. Even in Egypt’s hot climate, the hot coffee was a welcome warmth compared to the cold of vampire skin.

After a while, Atem glanced around, carefully checking their surroundings. Once he was certain no one was looking, he reached into his pocket, and produced a small, darkened vial; He poured about half of its contents into his coffee, and then the rest into Yugi’s. The sweet, milky smell of the coffee mingled with the metallic scent of blood.

Atem and Yugi enjoyed their blood-spiked coffee wholeheartedly, savoring each sip as the hungry tingling in their stomachs gradually began to recede. It wasn’t quite a full meal, but it was a sufficient snack for the time being, and the bittersweet taste was a welcome reward after their unpleasant morning.

“This is  _ way _ better than plain lizard blood,” Yugi sighed contentedly, not terribly concerned about being overheard- The Egyptian language had died out among humans millennia ago.

Atem gave a nod of agreement and a relaxed smile. “Yeah. I’m glad coffee houses are still around. They’ve gotta be the best new trend since bound books.”

“Mm-hmm.”

As they continued to drink their coffee, they found themselves listening in on nearby conversations. It was, admittedly, maybe not the most respectful thing for them to do, but they did it anyway; It was hard not to, with their sharp hearing, and they were curious to hear what the local gossip was in this new era.

“Hey, did you hear about what happened with that dig out in the valley today?” a man at a nearby table began, as he passed the pipe to his neighbor.

“What, the one in that so-called ‘cursed’ tomb?” another man replied.

A third man gave an amused snort. “Please.  _ Every _ tomb’s supposedly cursed nowadays. It’s nothing but travel agencies playing up silly Western superstitions as a marketing tactic, that’s all it is.”

“Nah, listen, this one-”

“I think I know the tomb you’re talking about,” the coffee house owner interrupted, placing a tray down on their table. “You mean the ‘Two Princes’ curse, right? That one really is ancient. Supposedly goes back to Roman times, at least,” he corrected them.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” the first man confirmed with a nod. “Turns out the curse is real!”

The whole table burst out laughing.

“Alright, now  _ that _ part I don’t believe,” the shop owner laughed. “Where’d you hear that?”

“From my cousin Eksander! He’s part of the excavation crew, he saw the whole thing this afternoon!” the first man insisted. “Crazy as it is, he said they got attacked by vampires.”

Atem and Yugi exchanged glances and feigned innocence. More laughter ensued.

“Ah, is that why I saw Professor Hawkins completely wasted at a bar at 4:30 in the afternoon?” the second man joked. 

“Yeah, and what were  _ you _ doing there, huh?”

“Dragging my son’s ass home.”

“Ouch!”

“Alright, alright, and what did these vampires look like?” the third man asked, half curious, half condescending. 

“I knew nothing good would come from opening that tomb! My family’s got the same story, should’ve left it alone!” a fourth man shouted from the table behind them.

“Aw, shut up!”

The first man ignored the interruption as he answered. “Little guys, two of ‘em,” he recounted. “Dark skin, kinda greyish-looking, big hair-”

Yugi and Atem pressed themselves closer to the wall and tried to look inconspicuous. 

“Real young, probably about twelve years old-”

Atem slammed his coffee down on the table.

“You know what? I think I’m done with my coffee,” he announced tersely, through clenched teeth. “Come on, Yugi.”

Yugi sighed, and followed Atem towards the door.

“Have a good night, boys!” the coffee shop owner called out cheerfully after them. “Come back soon! And tell your father to stop by, too, he needs to meet his new neighbors!”

Atem rolled his eyes as he let the door close behind them.

* * *

_ “‘Probably about twelve years old’,” _ Atem repeated in a high-pitched, mocking tone, rolling his eyes and waving his hands in an exaggerated imitation of the man from the coffee shop. “Bitch,” he grumbled, tossing another piece of plywood onto the fire.

Yugi sighed. “You know, just once in my life I’d like someone to look at me and think ‘Wow, that looks like someone with a lot of life experience!’, instead of ‘Oh no, an unattended child!’”

“Right?” Atem agreed. “And then everybody’s all, ‘Gosh, why is that creepy kid so angry all the time?’ Like gee,  _ I wonder!” _

Both boys sighed in a weary chorus. Shaking his head in dismay, Yugi stirred the fire, and held out his hands to its warmth.

“At least the coffee was good,” he said after a moment, trying to be optimistic.

“Yeah, it was,” Atem admitted. “I-”

“Hey! Excuse me!” a voice shouted in Arabic, vocabulary polite yet tone unfriendly.

“Uh-oh,” Yugi whispered, glancing over at the source of the interruption.

Atem rolled his eyes. “Oh boy, here we go again.”

“Excuse me,” the police officer repeated as he approached them, more quiet, yet still quite stern. “You kids can’t be here. This area is off limits.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry! You’ll have to forgive us, sir, we simply didn’t know,” Yugi replied as politely as possible, giving the most innocent, charming smile he could muster up.

The police officer seemed unconvinced. “I’ll need your names, address, and phone number,” he informed them. “You’re being written up for trespassing and illegal dumping.”

Atem and Yugi exchanged nervous, helpless glances, not sure how to answer.

“O-Oh, yes, it’s, uh… ...Aah! Over there!” Yugi suddenly shouted, pointing past the officer.

The police officer frowned. “What?”

“It’s… It’s the vampires!” Yugi lied, feigning shock and horror.

“Dear god, they’re eating that man’s face!” Atem added dramatically as he caught on.

“Oh, it’s  _ horrible!” _

“I can’t watch!”

The officer turned around quickly, eyes widening in fear; He scowled as he quickly realized it was a bluff. “Hey, don’t try to-”

He fell silent as he turned around to face an empty hill, no one there but a pile of burning wood.

* * *

Around a week later, Yugi and Atem sat quietly at a low table in their tomb. The table was old, battered, and messy, and even the cushions surrounding it had a few paint spots; The slightly higher tables near the walls of the room, on the other hand, were a fair bit more well-kept. Small wooden figurines covered their surface, placed nearly in carefully arranged dioramas. 

“Man, I still can’t believe they broke shabti siege of Troy,” Atem sighed.

“Yeah… It’s ok, though. I was thinking it was about time to replace that one with something more interesting, anyway,” Yugi replied, dipping the tip of his brush in a small dish of paint. “These new paints are pretty nice, though,” he commented, as he added two striking green eyes to the figure in his hands.

“Mm.” Atem didn’t look up as he responded, paying full attention to his work; He held his hand steady as he carefully, ever so carefully affixed a knife to the hand of a tiny wooden Roman senator.

Suddenly, a distant shout came from another room, followed by a loud  _ thud.  _ Shabti Cassius gained a rather green forehead as Atem and Yugi jumped in surprise.

“...Atem?” Yugi began quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Did you leave the back door open?”

“No..?”

Atem and Yugi shared wide-eyed glances, wordlessly putting their projects down and standing up to investigate.

The two vampires hung back cautiously as they peeked around the doorway. At first, all they saw was a pile of white hair, but upon further inspection the source of the noise soon became apparent: A body, lying face down, smack in the middle of their now-very-broken coffee table.

“Oh my god, it’s a kid,” Yugi realized.

“Is he dead?” Atem gasped.

“I hope not,” Yugi replied, biting his lip.

Yugi hurried over to the intruder, crouching down beside him and shaking his shoulder. “Hey, are you ok? Are you alright?” he repeated the question in both Arabic and English, hoping at least one of the languages would be understood- Assuming, of course, that the boy was conscious.

“‘M fine, just… Sore,” the boy groaned in English, slowly pushing himself up off the ground; He gasped as he saw Yugi and Atem, watching him with bright red eyes widened in concern.

“So the rumors are true…” he whispered.

Yugi and Atem exchanged quick glances, sighing internally, but otherwise gave no reaction.

“It’s alright, we mean you no harm,” Atem assured him, putting his hands up in surrender. “Are you sure you’re alright? That was quite the fall.”

The boy nodded as he stood up. “I’m fine, really, just a bit bruised is all. I’m sorry I broke your table,” he added. “I heard there were vampires living in this part of the valley, so I came to investigate. When I found the hidden door, I was kind of expecting stairs or something,” he admitted with an apologetic laugh.

Atem’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Hold on… You aren’t a vampire hunter, are you?” he asked, in a lower, more guarded tone.

“No! No, no, god no, I would never!” The boy insisted quickly, shaking his head and waving his hands in denial. “Actually, I’m a dhampir,” he explained, flashing a fanged smile.

“Oh, a dhampir! We haven’t met any dhampirs in quite some time,” Yugi exclaimed, clapping his hands together in excitement. “Good to meet you!”

“So you aren’t here to kill us, nor to pillage our tomb?” Atem repeated, just to be sure.

The dhampir shook his head. “No, of course not. I was just curious if there were really vampires out here or not. I won’t kill you if you wont kill me,” he promised.

Atem relaxed, letting out a breath. “Good! Then let us be friends,” he decided, offering a smile. “My name is Prince Atem, son of the late Pharaoh Akhenamkanon. This is my twin brother, Prince Yugi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Not that our titles hold any meaning now, though,” Yugi added with a laugh. “And you are..?”

“Ryou Bakura,” the dhampir replied, smiling widely and held out a hand.

Yugi raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I don’t suppose you have any relation to the thief Bakura?”

“Yup, that’s the one!”

Atem and Yugi’s smiles abruptly faded.

“You know what? On second thought, it’s getting rather late. Why don’t I show you to the door, and then you take your leave and never come this way again or we kill you,” Atem decided, as he began physically pushing Ryou towards the entryway.

“Wh- Hey, wait! Wait, come on, wh-what’d I do?!” Ryou exclaimed, struggling against Atem’s strength despite the difference in size.

“We don’t get along with the Thief King,” Yugi explained with a frown.

“Why?” Ryou wondered.

Atem paused in his pushing to cross his arms and scowl. “I’m afraid he murdered me. Violently.”

“Oh.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

“...Well. Uh. This is… Awkward,” Ryou said.

“Yes,” Atem muttered dryly. “Now then, as I was saying-” he gestured rather sweepingly towards the front hall. “The door.”

“Wait!” Ryou pleaded. “I’m, uh… Sorry for your loss..?” he paused, frowning in confusion, not quite sure of the appropriate expression for the situation. “But it it makes you feel any better, the Thief King and I aren’t exactly friends. I’ve never even met the guy- He’s like, my great-great-grandfather or something, I just happened to inherit his name,” he explained.

“Oh, I… Suppose that makes sense,” Yugi realized.

“Please, just give me a chance, I promise I have no loyalty to Bakura the Thief,” Ryou repeated. “The truth is, I… People tend to think I’m weird, so I, um, don’t really have any friends. I-I was kinda thinking that if humans avoid me, maybe, you know, maybe vampires could be friends with me? I understand if you still want me to leave, though,” he finished quietly, lowering his head.

Atem bit his lip; There was something about Ryou’s expression, his dejected, shy posture, that made him feel a pang of guilt. (In all honesty, he thought Ryou looked strikingly similar to a stray kitten they’d taken in once, many centuries ago.)

Atem sighed. “Alright, I suppose it’s rather unfair of me to judge you by your lineage rather than your character,” he admitted, with some reluctance. “I apologize for my hostility.”

“For what it’s worth, I would very much like to be friends,” Yugi added. “As I’m sure you can imagine, Atem and I don’t exactly have terribly active social lives ourselves.”

“That is true,” Atem agreed. “It can get somewhat lonely out here.”

“Then let’s be friends!” Ryou blurted out, almost a bit too enthusiastically. “Please?”

Atem and Yugi said nothing at first. Yugi looked silently to Atem for a verdict; After a few seconds, Atem nodded.

“Alright.”

Ryou’s face lit up with a wide smile. “Yay! Thank you! I hope we’ll have lots of fun together.”

Yugi smiled back. “Me too!”

“You’ll, uh… You’ll have to forgive us if we’re not very good at this,” Atem said, suddenly glancing away nervously as he started cleaning up the broken table. “We haven’t had anyone to talk to in… A very long time.”

“It’s ok. You two have been asleep for a while, haven’t you?” Ryou guessed, giving Atem a sympathetic smile. “Oh, here- Let me help you with that.”

“How could you tell?” Yugi wondered as he joined the cleaning effort.

“Your vocabulary’s a bit outdated.”

Yugi let out a quiet hum of defeat. “We’ve been asleep since 1853. It seems things have changed quite a bit over the past century,” he added thoughtfully.

Ryou laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure it must be a lot to take in. I can teach you guys about the modern world, though!” he announced. “Um, if you want me to, I mean.”

“Please do,” Atem agreed with a sigh. “I’m so confused. There’s so much I don’t understand.”

“I can imagine,” Ryou laughed. “I have an idea, why don’t we go to the city right now? I can show you a bit of what’s new, and try to explain anything you don’t get,” he suggested.

Atem and Yugi looked to each other questioningly, debating this idea.

“I don’t mind,” Atem decided, shrugging. “Yugi?”

“I think a night out sounds lovely! Just give us a few moments to clean up, I’m afraid we were in the midst of a project when you arrived.”

“Oh, I had forgotten all about that,” Atem realized. “Let’s clean up, then.”

Ryou followed Atem and Yugi to the other room, for lack of knowing what else to do. 

As they walked, Ryou glanced around idly. It was strange, seeing the juxtaposition of a tomb and a home; Traditional Egyptian tomb paintings and reliefs hid behind shelves full of all manner of books, toys, and decorations, and even a few framed drawings and paintings hung on the walls. There was no doubt that the tomb was well lived in and well loved, and had been for some time, yet the clear funerary scenes lent it an unsettlingly grim atmosphere.

Ryou quite liked it.

The room they entered was clearly a later addition to the main chamber, much more roughly hewed out of the surrounding stone, with a distinct lack of the floor-to-ceiling decorations that covered the walls of the living room. What it  _ did  _ have- in addition to framed artwork- Was several tables full of spectacularly arranged wooden dioramas, and a table clearly meant for building them.

“You guys are into model building?!” he gasped.

“Yes, it’s one of our favorite hobbies!” Yugi replied, smiling proudly. “It started out long ago, when we used to play with arranging our shabtis, until we eventually began making such complex scenes that we decided to simply carve our own.”

“We’re recreating the assassination of Julius Caesar at the moment,” Atem explained, as he scraped some unused paint into a jar.

Ryou stared in awe at the dioramas, walking the room slowly to take in each one. “These are amazing,” he said sincerely. “I do some similar stuff- Mostly, I make miniatures and scenery for tabletop RPGs- But I’ve never done anything nearly this good,” he admitted, shaking his head in disbelief.

Atem laughed, tilting his head in slight embarrassment. “Well, in all fairness, we have had quite a bit of practice. But thank you.”

“I’d love to see your work as well,” Yugi added. He wiped a brush off on a damp cloth, and then folded it in half and wiped the table; Finally, he put the cloth down, all done tidying up the day’s work.

“I could show them to you,” Ryou replied as he followed Yugi and Atem back into the living room, and up a long, inclined corridor. “My apartment’s not too far, we could stop by if you really want to see.”

“That sounds lovely!”

At the end of the entry shaft, Atem grabbed hold of the large stone door, gripping a carved-out handle at one end. He pulled the door to the side with ease, despite its weight.

“By the way, if you like, we’d be happy to share our knowledge,” Yugi told Ryou as they left the tomb behind, watching the bright Luxor skyline come into view on the horizon. “We’ve picked up some rather useful techniques over the years, so-”

“You there!” a voice shouted in Arabic, causing the three boys to jump in surprise. “How did you get in there?! This area is off-limits!”

Yugi, Atem, and Ryou looked to each other. They looked to the open tomb behind them, and to the wide-eyed police officer ahead of them.

“Aah! Vampires!” Yugi and Atem shrieked simultaneously, pointing ahead of them dramatically.

The police officer gasped, turning around on instinct. “What-”

Atem slammed the door behind him, shaking the stone cliffs as the three of them bolted off in the other direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really just Drake & Josh but with vampires?


	3. Chapter 3

_ Luxor, Egypt. 2010. _

A balmy evening breeze blew through the open window, gently fluttering the sheer curtains. Light from the moon, streetlamps, and the room’s overhead lighting combined to catch the reflective coating of the cards on the table, scattering sparkles throughout the room.

Ryou leaned forward where he sat on the batttered-yet-comfortable old couch, jaw clenched and brow furrowed as he contemplated the setup before him. His gaze flickered back and forth between the cards in his hand and the cards on the table.

“...I guess there’s really nothing I can do, huh,” he sighed after a few minutes. “Alright, I end my turn.”

Yugi gave Ryou a sympathetic smile as he drew his next card. “I’m sure you know how this is going to go-”

“Uh-huh,” Ryou muttered.

“-I’ll attack with Silent Magician, and that’s the duel,” Yugi finished, flashing his fangs in a smile that was somewhere between apologetic and proud. “Good game!”

“Good game,” Ryou agreed, smiling slightly despite his loss.

“Out of curiousity, what was your set card?” Yugi asked as he began tidying up.

“Enemy controller,” Ryou replied, flipping the card over. “Useless against Silent Magician.”

“Ah, tough luck,” Yugi laughed.

As the two boys finished picking up their cards, placing them back neatly in their boxes, the bead curtain in the doorway rattled.

“Hey,” Atem greeted them, pushing through the curtain and nudging it out of the way with his shoulders. “Who won?”

“Yugi did, of course,” Ryou answered, reaching for one of the coffee cups Atem placed on the table. 

Yugi gave Ryou a sympathetic look, as Atem sat down on the floor next to him. “Hey, cheer up. You’re getting a lot better!”

“Mm. Yugi and I are only this good at Duel Monsters because we’ve had a lot of years to get good at strategy and critical thinking. You’ll improve with practice,” Atem assured him as he stirred his coffee. “Want some blood, Ryou?”

“Sure, thanks.”

Ryou took the bottle from Atem, pouring a few drops into his coffee. For a few minutes, there was silence as the three boys simply enjoyed their drinks; After a moment, Atem seemed to remember something.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I wrote down the new plan for getting internet and stuff to our tomb,” he announced. “Want to see?”

Ryou nodded. “Sure, let’s see it!”

Atem reached into his pocket, producing a battered, folded-up piece of paper. He handed the piece of paper to Ryou, who unfolded it, and then frowned. 

“Atem, I can’t read this,” he told him, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head. “It’s written in hieratic.”

Atem blinked in surprise. “Oh, right.” He took the paper back, and grabbed the gel pen that sat on the coffee table. “Uh… English or Arabic?” he asked.

“Either one, I guess,” Ryou replied.

“Arabic it is, then,” Atem decided, shrugging as he began writing out a translation; A minute or two later, handed the paper back to Ryou.

Ryou took the paper, reading it over as he sipped his coffee. As he read the list, a variety of expressions crossed his face, namely confusion and concern- Atem and Yugi, however, seemed not to notice, watching Ryou with excitement and anticipation. He raised an eyebrow once again as he glanced up at their faces; They seemed rather… Proud of their work.

“...Ok… I, um… Have some questions,” he began slowly, gently.

“Yes?” Atem and Yugi replied in unison.

Ryou took a deep breath, and glanced down at the paper. 

“‘Step one: Install solar panels’,” he read off the list. 

Atem nodded. “That way, we’re not reliant on outside sources for electricity, so it’d be harder to trace back to us,” he explained.

“Uh-huh… And do you know where to get solar panels?”

“No,” Yugi admitted cheerfully. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Atem added with a vague hand wave.

Ryou frowned slightly. “Right, ok, and do you know how to _ install _ solar panels?”

There was a long, awkward silence.

“...I mean, it can’t be that hard, right?” Atem said after a moment. “You just, you know… Put them. And then you angle them to get the most sunlight possible- which won’t be an issue up on the hill, really- And then you plug in the extension cord! Easy. Done.”

“We can run it right through the back door, and bracket it to the ceiling and down the wall,” Yugi added helpfully. 

Ryou sighed. “I don’t- I don’t think that’s how it really works.”

“Oh yeah, since when are _ you _ an electrician, huh?”

“And are you?” Ryou retorted, causing Atem to blink in surprise. “Besides, like… Ok, so let’s say you do manage to get solar panels from somewhere. How are you going to get them out to the Valley?” he questioned.

“By carrying them..?” Yugi answered, frowning in confusion; He didn’t understand why this was a question.

Ryou shook his head in dismay. “Come on, don’t you guys remember what happened back in ‘83?”

Atem and Yugi’s expressions suddenly darkened. 

“We don’t talk about what happened in 1483,” Atem said slowly, with a terse, warning tone. 

Ryou blinked in confusion. “What? No, I meant 1983. You know, 27 years ago?” he clarified. “Remember? When you guys tried to set up a camping generator?”

“Oh, I think I remember that now,” Yugi realized, tilting his head thoughtfully.

Atem gave a frustrated huff. “Well do you have any _ better _ ideas, Ryou?” he grumbled.

“Not really, no,” Ryou admitted, frowning apologetically. “I just think this whole scheme is most likely going to end with you getting into a fight with the cops, just like literally every other time you guys have tried to modernize your tomb since the 1960s.”

Atem groaned, flopping over backwards onto the floor.

“I just wanna use the internet,” he whined. “It’s not fair! I don’t even care about lights or a refrigerator or whatever, we’ve managed just fine without it for the past three millennia- I just want some damn wifi already,” he insisted. “I feel like we’re living in the fucking dark ages here.”

Ryou gave a sympathetic frown. “Can’t you guys just… Make, like, a wifi spell or something?”

“We’ve tried,” Atem and Yugi responded, one with a frustrated grumble, the other a disappointed sigh. 

“It’s just too complicated,” Yugi admitted, shaking his head in dismay. “I mean, it took us years to develop the obelisk, and that only does a few things and relies on stuff that’s always going to be around. It’d take decades to figure out an internet spell, and the technology changes so fast that it’d be outdated in a few years anyway,” he explained.

“That’s why I’m saying, we need to just suck it up- No pun intended- And do it the regular way,” Atem insisted. “But _ nooooo, _ the stupid Ministry of Antiquities or whatever the hell they’re calling it these days thinks they own the whole goddamn valley, and _ god forbid _ you so much as breathe down there without a permit- Unless, of course, you’re a tourist who wants to harass Tutankhamen, in which case give them all your money.” He rolled his eyes.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Ryou said with a frown, quietly ignoring Atem’s rant about jurisdiction. (He’d heard it many, many times before.) “Honestly, though, I don’t get why you two don’t just move to the city. I mean, it’s not like you can’t afford it, what with that weird antique-pottery-money-farming thing you have going on,” he pointed out. “Or you could even just move in with me- You’re here often enough anyway.”

“Because we _ like _ our tomb!” Atem insisted. 

Yugi nodded in agreement. “It’s our home. We love our tomb. Why would we move away?”

“We’ve put so much work into it! We’re not gonna give it up just for the sake of wifi!”

“And besides… This is something you wouldn’t understand, and I’m not blaming you for that, but it’s… Easier for us to live in semi-isolation,” Yugi admitted with a frown. “More wild animals for us to eat, less people to judge us for hunting them in the middle of the night.”

“And if we left our tomb, within a week the archaeologists would turn it into some sort of fucked up tourist attraction,” Atem continued.

Ryou put his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright, I see your point. I’m sorry. It was just a suggestion.”

“I know,” Yugi sighed, and the room fell quiet again. 

After a few minutes of silence, Atem sighed, and sat up again. He frowned as he sipped his coffee, curled up in an unhappy pout.

“Hey, cheer up, Atem. We’ll figure something out eventually,” Yugi promised, giving his brother a reassuring pat on the back. “How about we play some Mario Kart?”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to tell you guys, I think I found a new ultra shortcut!” Ryou exclaimed.

This got Atem’s attention for sure, as he suddenly sat straight up, eyes wide with interest. “Really? Where?!”

“Bowser’s Castle,” Ryou replied. “Here, I’ll show you!”

Atem and Yugi moved out of the way without prompting, changing seats from the floor to the couch as Ryou turned on the TV, switched the inputs, and grabbed three Wii remotes from their chargers. All previous frustration was soon forgotten as they watched the screen, hearing the familiar title music fill the room.

* * *

_ Luxor, Egypt. 2014. _

Atem and Yugi leaned over the table, staring at the shiny new phones with interest. The outdoor cafe was well lit despite the dark sky, and noisy, a busy Saturday evening.

“Ok, almost done,” Ryou said as he tapped the two phones one after the other. “Once it finishes loading, you can go ahead and download apps or change your wallpaper or whatever. Side note, though, I’d highly suggest getting protective cases for these as soon as you can,” he added.

“How come?” Yuugi asked.

“Your house is entirely made of stone,” Ryou reminded him, raising an eyebrow. “Considering what your floor did to my skull that one time, imagine what it could do to a flimsy little point of glass.”

Yugi tilted his head slightly. “Point taken. Are there Duel Monsters themed phone cases?” he wondered. 

Ryou shrugged. “I dunno, probably. You could look online, I guess.”

Yugi and Atem each picked up their new phones, as both devices returned to an empty home screen.

“Hey, what kind of social media should we get?” Atem asked. 

Ryou paused for a moment to think about it. “Good question. Hmm… I’d say start with either Twitter or Reddit, probably,” he decided. “Twitter’s pretty good for a general network, but not as… Middle-aged-mom-y as Facebook, and Reddit’s got a lot of interesting stuff for games and things like that. Reddit’s more specialized, though, and also tends to have more weirdos,” he admitted, frowning slightly.

“I guess I’ll start with Twitter, then,” Atem decided. 

Atem took a bite of falafel as he waited for the app to install. The falafel, of course, did little to quiet the rumbling in his stomach- But it tasted good, and that was the important part. He’d deal with his hunger later.

“What username are you going to pick?” Yugi wondered, glancing over at Atem’s screen.

“Probably ‘King of Games’,” Atem decided. “I guess it would be all one word.”

Yugi gasped. “No way, I was gonna use that one!”

“Too late, I already called it.”

“Not if I get to it first,” Yugi said ominously.

Atem and Yugi’s eyes met, narrowing in distrust, and not a second later both began tapping at their screens furiously.

“Ooh, good luck!” Ryou commented. 

He watched in amusement as the twins raced each other for the right to their title. They tapped almost aggressively, each trying to be the fastest, shaking their phones in frustration as they waited for the their connections to load. Tensions mounted, until-

“It’s… Already taken,” Yugi realized, putting his phone down gently and looking slightly stunned. 

“Aw, too bad,” Ryou said in a cheery voice, and gave Yugi a pat on the shoulder.

Atem, however, was not so amused. “What do you _ mean, _ it’s taken?! By who?!” he demanded.

“Hmm, let’s see…” Ryou took out his own phone and made a quick search. “Some guy named Jack, apparently.”

“Hmph. I’m a better gamer than him,” Atem grumbled, crossing his arms bitterly. 

Ryou raised an eyebrow at this… Rather presumptuous declaration, but didn’t comment. “You know, you could do like, ‘king_of_games’ with underscores, or something like that. ‘xxkingofgamesxx’, if you want to be fancy.”

“Absolutely not,” Atem retorted without hesitation. “I refuse to settle for second best. I’ll simply have to… _ Convince _ this ‘Jack’ guy to see the error of his ways.”

“W… Wait, what do you-”

“Do you think we’ll make friends online?” Yugi wondered as he filled out the rest of his profile, already over his disappointment. 

“I don’t know,” Ryou answered. “I guess it depends on how much one-on-one interaction you have with other people. Don’t push it too hard, though,” he warned.

Yugi nodded. “Right. Thanks.”

“I hope we do make some friends,” Atem sighed. “No offense of course, Ryou- You’re our best friend and I love you, but you’re also our _ only _ friend. It’d be nice to have other friends too, you know?” he clarified with an apologetic shrug.

“None taken, I understand. The more the merrier, right?” Ryou replied, smiling reassuringly. 

“Hmm… What should I put as my birth year?” Atem wondered, frowning slightly in puzzlement.

“1018 B.C.,” Yugi answered automatically. 

“It only goes back to 1900, though,” Atem clarified. “I guess I should pick that, since it’s technically closest to my actual birth year.”

“Here’s the thing, though,” Ryou interrupted. “If you put 1900, it’ll be obvious you’re lying, because clearly you’re not 114 years old. On the other hand, if you put 1998, which would make you 16, it’ll probably lock you out of seeing certain posts for the next two years.”

“That’s ok, I don’t want to see anything like that anyway.”

“I do,” Yugi muttered.

Atem reached across the table and flicked Yugi on the forehead.

“Anyway. How do I post memes?”

...Ryou took a deep breath.

“You alright?” Atem questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’m good, I just need a minute to… Process those words that you just said,” Ryou answered, shaking his head in disbelief. “Ok, uh… You mean like, a photo post?”

Atem nodded. “Where do I get the pictures? And how do I put text on them?”

“That’s, uh… There’s a bit of a process there, you can’t really do it directly from Twitter,” Ryou explained. “I can show you how to do it, though.”

“Please do.”

Ryou nodded, and took out his phone, blissfully unaware of the chaos he was about to unleash upon the world.

* * *

_ Discord. 2018. _

_ -> A wild _ ** _DarkMagician_ ** _ appeared!  
__-> It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s _ ** _SilentSwordsman_ ** _ !_

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:19 AM  
_YOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:19 AM  
_Oh?? 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:20 AM  
_Hello

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:20 AM  
_Hi!! ^^

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:20 AM  
_Wait who is this 

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:21 AM _  
These are my friends Atem and Yugi  
We met on the duel monsters subreddit, which you’d know about if you weren’t a filthy casual 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:22 AM __  
_Ohhhhh 

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:22 AM  
_I’m not a causal I just don’t like Reddit lmao 

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:23 AM  
_Should we introduce ourselves? :o

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:24 AM  
_Sure, i guess

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:25 AM _  
Ok!  
Yugi, 16, he/him, I’m from Thebes, Egypt and I like games and cute things!! ^^ 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:25 AM _  
Atem, he/him or whatever. Aroace. Yugi and I are twins. Dark Magician is my favorite monster  
Uhhhh I guess that’s about it

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:26 AM _  
Nice to meet you both! I’m Anzu, Jounouchi and I go to the same school  
I like Dark Magician too, as I’m sure you can guess, lol

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:26 AM _  
WAIT  
WAIT  
ARE YOU THE NICHE VAMPIRE MEMES GUYS?!?!?! 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:26 AM  
_That would be us, yes 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:26 AM _  
HOLY SHIT  
JOU WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH THE VAMPIRE MEMES GUYS????

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:27 AM  
_HGDKDHKS I THOUGHT YOU KNEW 

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:27 AM  
_Omg?? 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:27 AM  
_I’m crying… I cant believe I’m in the presence of royalty 

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:27 AM  
_I mean our kingdom doesn’t exit anymore so technically we’re just regular people… 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:29 AM  
_God yeah, rip vine 

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:29 AM  
_F 

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:29 AM  
_f 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:29 AM  
_F...

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:29 AM  
_f :( 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:32 AM _  
Oh btw  
Jou 

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:32 AM  
_Yeah? 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:33 AM  
_What the hell does your nickname mean 

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:33 AM  
_I was kinda wondering that too gfjdhsk 

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:33 AM  
_Oh hkdjsksk 

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:34 AM  
_It’s a horrible medical condition characterized by frequent bouts of uncontrollable rage

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:34 AM  
_Known causes: 1. Living in Brooklyn

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:34 AM  
_Oh dear

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:34 AM  
_The only known cure is moving somewhere with a functional subway. 

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:35 AM _  
WE ONLY HAVE, LIKE, ONE  
AND IT DOESNT EVEN ALWAYS COME ON TIME  
YOU GOTTA JUST WAIT AND HOPE IT SHOWS UP AND I HATE IT

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:35 AM  
_I know dude. I know

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:35 AM _  
FUCJ BROOKLYN  
*FUCK

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:36 AM  
_I’m so sorry

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:36 AM  
_;;

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:39 AM _  
Oh btw  
We might not be super active in this chat. Atem and I don’t have WiFi at our house, so we can only use Discord when we’re out. :( So you might not hear from us super often. 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:39 AM  
_Wait really? Damn

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:39 AM  
_Oh oof that sucks, I’m sorry

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:39 AM  
_f

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:40 AM _  
Yeah big F  
We’re at our friend Ryou’s house rn  
We’ve been trying to get wifi forever but SOMEONE keeps thwarting my plans 

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:40 AM  
_Wh. Who is someone 

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:40 AM  
_The government

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:41 AM  
_I’m sorry what?

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:41 AM  
_????????

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:41 AM  
_Uhhhh care to elaborate there buddy?

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:41 AM  
_Don’t worry about it

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:42 AM  
_Wtf does that mean

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:42 AM  
_I said don’t worry about it…

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:42 AM  
_It’s fine u-u;

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:43 AM  
_????????

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:43 AM  
_Guys what does that MEAN

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:44 AM  
_Anyway

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:44 AM  
_(Edgeworth voice) Hmph, using “Anyway” as a cheap tactic to try to change the topic of a

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:45 AM  
_ANYWAY

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:45 AM  
_Anyway what

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:46 AM  
_Do you guys want to see a picture of a cat I met tonight

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:46 AM  
_YES

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:46 AM  
_Sure

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:46 AM  
_I WANT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:47 AM  
_Yugi you did see it. You were there when I took the picture. You petted it

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:47 AM  
_I WANT TO SEE IT ANYWAY THAT CAT WAS A BABY AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

**DarkMagician ** _ Today at 3:48 AM  
_Valid

_IMG_4750.JPG_

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:49 AM  
_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:49 AM  
_Oh cute!

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:49 AM  
_:O

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:49 AM  
_OH MY GOD A BABY

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:50 AM  
_I TOLD YOU!!!!! A PERFECT FRIEND

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:51 AM _  
WAIT  
HONDA YOU GOTTA SHOW THEM PICTURES OF YOUR DOG

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:51 AM  
_FUCK YOU’RE RIGHT

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:52 AM  
_DOG??????

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:52 AM  
_Show us! :OOO

_blankey_7th_birthday.jpg_

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:54 AM  
_!!!!!!!

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:54 AM  
_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BIG BABY!!!! SOFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

“Hmm? What’s up?” Ryou wondered, glancing up from his model building at the sound of Yugi’s gasp.

“Look at this! Look!”

Yugi jumped off the couch and ran over to the dining room, holding out his phone for Ryou to see. 

“Oh, pretty! What a good puppy!” Ryou exclaimed, face lighting up with joy at the sight of the photo. “Whose dog is that?”

“Someone online,” Yugi answered vaguely. 

“You know our friend Jounouchi?” Atem called from the living room.

“The guy whose deck was all monsters?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. He invited us to join his Discord server,” Atem explained. “Apparently that’s his friend’s dog.”

* * *

**Filthy Casual** _Today at 3:55 AM  
_This is Blankey she’s a perfect girl

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:55 AM   
_She is!! I love Blankey so much

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:55 AM   
_BLANKEY!! <3

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:55 AM  
_What kind of dog is she? :O

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:56 AM   
_She’s a german shepherd

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:56 AM  
_Oooh

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:56 AM  
_A big girl!! <3

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:56 AM   
_Yeah!

**BROOKLYN RAGE** _Today at 3:57 AM  
_Blankey is one of the best dogs I’ve ever met I would die and kill for blankey

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:57 AM   
_God mood

**DarkMagician** _Today at 3:57 AM  
_I would kill for her as well

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:58 AM   
_We Are All would kill for Blankey

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 3:58 AM   
_Please tell her I love her ;o;

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:59 AM   
_Will do 👍

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 3:59 AM  
_Thank you!!

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 3:59 AM   
_Wanna see more pictures of Blankey?

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 3:59 AM   
_YES

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 3:59 AM   
_ALWAYS

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 4:00 AM   
_YEAH!!!!!

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 4:00 AM   
_I’ll put em over in **#pic-spam** this time

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 4:00 AM  
_Okie dokie!!

**BROOKLYN RAGE ** _ Today at 4:00 AM   
_Yeet

* * *

For several minutes, Yugi and Atem commented on picture after picture, expressing their enthusiasm both via text and out loud. Naturally, they showed each picture to Ryou, leaning over each other’s shoulders; They sent back photos of their own, too, poorly-lit snapshots of cats and dogs they met around Luxor. 

* * *

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 4:09 AM   
_Btw Yugi, Atem, I hope this doesn’t come across as rude or anything but. Your English is really good!! How long have you been learning?

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 4:09 AM  
_Uhhhh good question XD

**DarkMagician** _Today at 4:10 AM  
_Pretty sure we got fluent sometime around the 19th century, when we figured out the brits would pay bank for whatever random shit we had lying around cause they think ancient egypt is “““Exotic™️””” lmao

**BROOKLYN RAGE** _Today at 4:10 AM  
_Hkdgdjdjkskh

**Dark Magician Girl ** _ Today at 4:11 AM   
_Khjhdkdhs alright then

**Filthy Casual ** _ Today at 4:11 AM   
_Lmao 

* * *

Atem paused for a moment, putting his phone down. 

“The internet… Sure is a strange place,” he said slowly.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. “Strange as in Charlie the Unicorn strange, or strange as in people arguing over whether or not their Steven Universe kins make them an oppressed minority strange?”

“Those are… Both certainly things that exist, yes, but not what I meant this time,” Atem answered. “What I meant is… Normally, we have to go through so much effort to hide that we’re vampires, right? But online, I can be like, ‘Yeah, I’m a vampire. Here are specific examples of my experiences as a vampire.’ and other people will just be like, ‘Haha, you’re so funny and quirky! Goth king!’” He frowned in confusion, and gave a baffled shrug.

“Yeah, it is kinda weird,” Yuugi agreed. “I was kinda worried we might get found out when you started posting those memes, but… Apparently everyone just thinks we have a very niche brand of humor.”

“Hmm, yeah… I guess it’s because with the internet being anonymous, it’s really easy to just make things up,” Ryou said, tilting his head thoughtfully. “Still, it is kind of interesting how strongly not-superstitious a lot of people are these days.”

“It’s all just silly old wives’ tales until I get hungry,” Atem muttered under his breath.

Ryou gave him a concerned look.

“Then you’ve got the people who are obsessed with finding scientific explanations for things,” Yugi added in. “I don’t get why people these days are so obsessed with drawing a hard boundary between magic and science. They’re just different words for the same thing. It’s not like we’re going to suddenly stop being vampires if they decide to blame it on a medical condition instead of demonic possession,” he pointed out, frowning slightly.

Atem laughed. “Yeah, honestly. It’s so dumb.”

“But hey, at least it makes for some fun online experiences, right?” Ryou said with an amused shrug.

“It sure does!” Atem snickered.

“Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about it,” Yugi admitted. “On one hand, it’s nice that everyone thins we’re human, because it means they’re actually willing to be friends with us. On the other hand… I do really wish we could just be vampires and not get judged for it. I hate having to hide all the time,” he sighed.

Atem nodded. “I understand that,” he admitted; His expression grew more serious, almost sad, despite his laughter only moments earlier.

Ryou watched his friends worriedly for a moment, before smiling. 

“Hey, at least you’ve always got me,” he reminded them, flashing a fanged grin for emphasis.

Yuugi and Atem smiled back, with their even-more-prominent fangs glinting in the light of the fireplace.

“Of course! And I’m so glad we do. I love being friends with you, Ryou,” Yugi told him sincerely.

Atem nodded in agreement. “Yeah! I don’t know what we’d do without you. You’re the best friend we’ve had in… Well, since we died, really.”

“And we’ll be friends forever!” Yugi added.

Ryou’s smile was more genuine this time, a light blush coming to his pale cheeks. He said nothing, too overwhelmed to express his affection with words; He instead pulled both Atem and Yugi into a tight hug, startling them slightly, though it didn’t take long for them to relax and return the gesture.

For once, the constant chill of their long-dead bodies didn’t seem to matter, as Atem and Yugi sat on the couch with Ryou, all three curled up peacefully together by the fire.

* * *

_ Luxor, Egypt. 2019. _

Ryou awoke to the sound of banging on the window. He sent a glare towards the window’s direction, hoping whatever it was would shut up leave him alone; When the banging continued to persist, he sighed, and reluctantly sat up. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he groaned as he stumbled over to the window.

To Ryou’s absolute, complete, utter lack of surprise, the source of the noise was two painfully familiar bats, hanging from the window frame and banging on the glass with their freaky little bat hands. (God, it was times like this that Ryou began to almost understand how humans could find such sweet creatures so creepy.)

Ryou stared in silence for a moment, letting his sluggish brain process this information, before muttering a simple, flat “No.”

The bats continued to bang on the window.

“I’m not letting you in,” Ryou informed them. “Go away. I’m trying to sleep.”

He heard the bats chatter angrily, still pounding on the window with a frightening amount of force for something so small.

“I said no,” he repeated, shaking his head. “Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”

The window-pounding continued. _ Bang, bang, bang. _

_ “Please _go away,” Ryou sighed.

_ Bang, bang, bang, bang. _

“Really, I’m not-”

_ BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG- _

“Alright! Alright! God, fine!” Ryou gave in, throwing his hands up in surrender and reluctantly lifting the window frame.

The bats swooped inside the moment the window was open enough, and within seconds, a pair of very familiar humanoids had tumbled face-first onto Ryou’s bed.

“Ryou, bad news,” Atem gasped as he hurriedly stood back up.

“Is the bad news that you won’t stop bothering me at three in the fucking morning?” Ryou deadpanned. 

“Hey, it’s not our fault you don’t have literally any sort of regular sleep schedule,” Atem insisted with a huff. “I don’t care if you want to sleep during the day or at night, just for the love of god, _ pick one _ and-”

Ryou groaned. “Look, just tell me what you want already.”

“Look at this,” Yugi said, holding out his phone with wide-eyed alarm.

Ryou took the phone, and glanced down at it, staring at it with the same bleary expression.

“...You came all this way to show me a picture of Dante from Devil May Cry in booty shorts..?” he muttered in tired disbelief.

“What? No, not that, scroll up more,” Yugi insisted with a frown. He took the phone back for a moment, scrolling up through previous messages until he found the relevant conversation, and placed it back in Ryou’s hands. “There. Look at this.”

* * *

**KUNAI WIT CHAIN** _Today at 2:37 AM  
_**@Dark Magician’s Knife Collection @Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass** GUYS. GUYS. G U Y S

**Dark Magician’s Knife Collection** _Today at 2:37 AM  
_What

**Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass ** _ Today at 2:37 AM   
_?

**KUNAI WIT CHAIN ** _ Today at 2:37 AM   
_GUESS WHAT

**Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass ** _ Today at 2:37 AM   
_What? :O

**KUNAI WIT CHAIN ** _ Today at 2:38 AM   
_WERE COMING TO VISIT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Dark Magician’s Knife Collection ** _ Today at 2:38 AM   
_Huh

**Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass ** _ Today at 2:38 AM   
_Eh??

**KUNAI WIT CHAIN ** _ Today at 2:39 AM   
_NEXT MONTH. US. YOU. FRIENDSHIP

**Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass ** _ Today at 2:39 AM   
_But we’re always friendship :(

**Dark Magician’s Knife Collection ** _ Today at 2:39 AM   
_I don’t understand wtf you’re talking about bro

**Dance Dance Overthrow the Government ** _ Today at 2:41 AM   
_What Jounouchi is trying to say is that we’re going to Luxor for a class trip, so we might be able to meet up with you guys!!

**Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass ** _ Today at 2:41 AM   
_WHAT?!?!?

**Dark Magician’s Knife Collection ** _ Today at 2:41 AM   
_Holy shit, for real?

**Blankey’s PR Manager ** _ Today at 2:42 AM   
_Yeah, our class won a contest so we get to go on an extended field trip to see the valley of the kings and all that shit. But who cares about that tbh, I just wanna hang out with you guys even if it means we have to ditch

**KUNAI WIT CHAIN ** _ Today at 2:42 AM   
_I’M COMING TO HUG YOU AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME BITCHES!!!!! YEAH FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

“Your online friends are coming to visit you?” Ryou read, frowning slightly in confusion. “This is bad news… Why..? Shouldn’t this be good news?”

“No! This is like,_ the _ worst thing that could possibly happen!” Atem insisted, grabbing Ryou by the shoulders and shaking him for emphasis. (Ryou simply stared blankly down at Atem as his body remained mostly limp.)

“I don’t get what makes it bad news,” he repeated.

_ “Because,” _ Yugi began slowly, “If our friends find out we’re actually real vampires and not just goth humans with a weirdy specific sense of humor, they’ll freak out and stop talking to us.”

“But if they’re in Luxor, we can’t just _ not _ hang out with them,” Atem finished for Yugi. “I love them _ so goddamn much, _ Ryou. The fucking Atlantic Ocean is literally the only thing stopping me from hugging all of them.”

“Which is very bad!” Yugi reiterated.

“Like, super bad!”

“We’re doomed!”

“We are, as the kids say, completely and utterly screwed!”

Ryou groaned, rubbing at the bridge of his nose; It was too early for this kind of shit.

“So just… Go hang out with them… _ And don’t fucking tell them you’re vampires,” _he said, speaking slowly, with careful emphasis, as if trying to give instructions to a five-year-old child over the phone.

“Oh, like it’s so easy,” Atem retorted with a sarcastic eyeroll.

“I wish it were as simple as just not saying anything, but it’s not,” Yugi insisted. “It’s not a big deal to hide it from people you don’t have to talk to for longer than five minutes at a time, but if we try to genuinely spend time with our friends, sooner or later they’re gonna notice that we’re constantly cold and grey and have glowing red eyes and massive fangs.”

“Then just tell them you’re sick or something.”

“Noooo!” Atem whined, throwing himself onto the bed. “I gotta hug my friends! I gotta!”

Ryou sighed. “Look, I don’t know what you expect from me, then,” he insisted, shaking his head; His patience was growing thin. “I don’t have an answer for you. Either go hang out with your friends and risk them finding out you’re vampires, or don’t. I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is I was sleeping a minute ago and I would really like to go back to that, so please either go away, or go do something quiet in the living room,” he insisted.

Atem’s only response was a long, dragged-out noise somewhere halfway between a groan and a whine, as he rolled across the bed in frustration.

“This sucks, man,” he whimpered.

“It sucks so bad I don’t even want to make a pun about it,” Yugi agreed, in a sad whine. “It’s not fair that-”

Yugi was interrupted abruptly as Ryou grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him up off the ground with one hand, doing the same to Atem with the other. The two smaller vampires could only flail in surprise and indignance as Ryou marched over to the door, threw them unceremoniously out into the hall, and shut the door behind them.

“I’m going to _ sleep _now,” he informed them firmly as he bolted the door shut. “If you bother me again within the next eight hours, I will remove your intestines.”

“Ok goodnight I love you,” Atem replied all in one breath from behind the door, sounding surprisingly meek.

“Sleep well, I love you!” Yugi added.

Ryou sighed. “Yeah, I love you guys too. Goodnight. Please don’t wake me up again.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for body horror and animal gore. I cannot BELIEVE I just had to write that. This is a comedy fic and it requires more content warnings than everything I've ever written other than the fic that was just straight up horror, what the fuck

_ Luxor, Egypt. 2019. _

Indifferent to Yugi and Atem’s inner conflict, time carried on. It wasn’t long before the day finally came that their friends arrived in Luxor, and the next day, they arranged to meet up at the temple to Khonsu at Karnak- Despite Atem and Yugi’s every instinct telling them that this was a horrible idea. And so, just after sundown, Yugi and Atem sat quietly on the base of an old pillar, stomachs twisting in knots with nervous energy. 

On one hand, they’d soon finally,  _ finally _ get a chance to meet the friends they’d grown so close to over the past year, the only new friends (other than Ryou) they’d had in centuries, the friends they’d so desperately longed to hang out with in the physical realm; On the other hand, there was a very real possibility that this would be the last night they would even  _ be _ friends, as their vampirism was far harder to play off as a joke when standing face-to-face. And it wasn’t typically very well received by humans.

Yugi frowned slightly, staring down at his hands; His fingertips still felt a little bit tender, having filed his claws down as far as he could, almost to the bone. Atem, too, had done the same, though he’d chosen to paint his a striking black lacquer in the hopes of presenting the claws as a normal aesthetic choice. 

In an effort to try to protect their secret, Yugi and Atem had leaned hard into the goth aspect of their online lives, dressing as much the part as possible for the night. Both dressed in full black, with heavy jewelry made of leather and steel, buckles and chains and spikes everywhere, tall black boots, and eyeliner far heavier than they would normally wear; The more over-the-top goth they looked, the higher the chances of their friends simply assuming that they were really,  _ really i _ nto the aesthetic, and that maybe their fangs, claws, and red eyes were simply cosmetic accessories.

(In reality, they did genuinely enjoy the goth subculture- But on a daily basis, they preferred the more simple, light-colored clothing of their homeland. Leather pants may have looked cool, sure, but a simple cotton robe and loose pants were infinitely more comfortable.

_ Infinitely. _

Atem stretched his legs out and wondered why the hell he’d ever bought those pants in the first place.)

Yugi and Atem had already been sitting in nervous silence for some time when they heard footsteps approaching. Glancing up, their anxiety was quickly replaced with excitement as they caught a glimpse of three familiar faces wandering nearby.

“There they are!” Yugi gasped, and waved enthusiastically to the group. “Hey! Over here!”

“Yugi! Atem!” the others called out, faces lighting up with joy as they caught sight of them. They soon hurried over, narrowly avoiding tripping over the ruins.

“Hey!” Atem greeted them, waving cheerfully.

“Hey guys!” Anzu said with a wide smile. “I can’t believe we finally-”

“...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah  _ hug time!”  _ Jounouchi shouted as he practically tackled Yugi and Atem off their seat, running at full speed and throwing an arm around each of them.

“W-Woah, hey!” Yugi gasped as he struggled to regain his balance, reflexively planting an arm against the column base behind him.

Atem laughed, even as he almost fell over himself. “Good to see you too, Jounouchi.”

“Geez, you guys are freezing,” Jounouchi realized with a frown as he finally pried himself away. He paused after letting go of Yugi and Atem, staring at them with a puzzled look for a moment; Eventually, he shook his head, and relaxed again.

“Yeah, it’s… It’s kinda chilly tonight,” Yugi explained with a nervous laugh. (It wasn’t a complete lie- It was a little bit on the chilly side as far as Luxor weather went, but not out of season, and not cold enough for most living humans to feel quite as cold to the touch as Yugi and Atem normally did.)

“I’m so glad we finally get to hang out for real,” Anzu repeated, still smiling. “Hugs?”

Yugi and Atem nodded, standing up to hug both Anzu and Honda in turn.

“Damn, you really  _ are _ short,” Honda commented as he pulled away. 

“And what of it?” Yugi retorted, tilting his head and smiling… Almost threateningly, really, with both eyebrows raised. 

Honda put his hands up in surrender. “N-Nothin’, I’m just like… Like, I knew on a factual level that you guys are short, but I didn’t  _ comprehend _ it, you know?” he explained. 

“Well I didn’t know you were so freakishly tall,” Atem deadpanned, staring up at Honda with an unimpressed look.

“Hey! Don’t call me freakish!” Honda retorted with a hurt pout.

Atem simply laughed, and gave Honda an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

“So how have you guys been?” Anzu asked, glancing around at the temple with idle curiousity.

“Pretty good,” Yuugi replied cheerfully. “We’ve mostly been up to the same stuff as usual, you know. How are you guys liking Luxor so far?” he asked.

“It’s great!”

“It’s  _ hot,” _ Jounouchi complained with a dramatic sigh. 

Honda nodded in agreement. “Yeah, in New York it’s usually a lot cooler by this time of year, so it’s been kind of a weird change.”

“I like it,” Anzu decided. “I’m a summer girl. If I can’t wear crop tops I’ll die.”

Atem laughed. “Yeah, I don’t like cold weather much either.”

“Honestly, when it comes to fashion and weather, fall is my favorite season,” Jounouchi admitted. “I wish I could just wear a denim jacket all the- Oh! I almost forgot!” he suddenly blurted out, interrupting himself. “Atem, I have something for you.”

Atem raised an eyebrow in surprise and curiousity. “For me? What is it?”

Jounouchi reached into his pocket, and produced a small, shimmery button pin with colorful stripes in shades of green, white, and black. He held it out to Atem, watching for his reaction with giddy anticipation.

“Oh! An aro pin!” Atem gasped. “Ooh, and it’s sparkly, too!” he realized in excitement, tilting the button and watching the light shift.

“I got it at ComicCon, I was gonna mail it to you for Christmas.” he explained with a wide grin. “When I saw ‘em, I knew I had to buy one for you too! So we can match!” he added, and tilted the collar of his jacket, flashing a matching button.

“Yay, friendship pins!” Atem cheered. “I love it, thank you so much!”

Atem struggled to keep his teeth from showing through his wide smile as he affixed the pin to his shirt, humming to himself cheerfully as he did so. The others found themselves smiling as well; Atem’s simple joy was contagious.

“It looks good on you!” Yugi complimented him as he finished attaching the pin.

Atem smiled proudly. “Thank you!”

“So what should we do now?” Honda wondered, glancing around thoughtfully.

Yugi and Atem paused to think about it as well.

“Hmm… Well, since we’re here, do you guys want to see the temple?” Yugi suggested. “I don’t think we’ll have time to do the whole Karnak complex, it’s kinda big, but we could at least show you around this section.”

The others exchanged glances, looking to each other for input.

“Sounds good to me,” Honda decided with a shrug.

“Yeah, might as well,” Jounouchi agreed.

“I’d love to!” Anzu added in. “I’m really interested in the history of the temple.”

“Well, you’re in luck, then,” Atem told her. “Yugi and I have been here loads of times. We can tell you all about it.”

With that, he and Yugi turned towards the temple’s front facade, gesturing for the others to follow.

They walked between the massive front pylons and into the entryway, busy city sky giving way to thick stone; As he reached out to idly touch one of the walls as he walked, Yugi thought briefly back to his childhood, when the sun would have cast a shadow above the entry. Now, however, there was no sun, only the mysterious mood lights provided by the tourism industry.

“This temple is dedicated to the god Khonsu,” Atem explained as they walked. “Him and his parents, Mut and Amun, were the three patron gods of Thebes back in the day. He’s primarily a moon god, but also associated with healing, travel, time, fertility, and in particular travel at night.”

“Khonsu’s a pretty cool guy, don’t you think?” Yugi added with a laugh.

“Moon god, huh?” Jounouchi muttered. “Does he take constructive criticism?”

“Mood,” Anzu sighed, as Atem raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Yugi frowned slightly. “Hey! I _ like _ the moon!” he insisted.

Atem nodded in agreement, and then paused for a moment as they reached the center of the temple; Almost as if for emphasis, he looked up at the sky, watching the heavens with a thoughtful calmness.

“The sky isn’t as bright as it used to be, with all the light from the city,” he sighed. “But you can still see the moon. Isn’t it beautiful?” he commented with a smile. “Looks like tomorrow’s the full moon- Or maybe the day after, I dunno, I’d have to check. Soon, though.”

“Oh, shit,” Jounouchi whispered, eyes suddenly widening as if in fear.

The others glanced at him confusedly.

“What’s wrong?” Yugi asked.

“O-Oh, nothing!” Jounouchi quickly insisted, shaking his head. “I just, uh- I-I just suddenly remembered I forgot to, um, take my meds. That’s all.”

Honda smacked a hand against his face in disbelief.  _ “Again?” _ he groaned. “Dude, that’s two days in a row!”

“Yeah, come on, you can’t keep skipping,” Anzu added with a worried frown.

“Hey, don’t judge me! I’m not on my normal routine, it throws me off! If I don’t have breakfast at the right time in the right spot, I’m not gonna remember my meds!” Jounouchi insisted.

“How the hell does that make any sense?!”

“Fuck you!”

“Guys, come on, don’t fight,” Yugi pleaded, holding up both hands as if to try to calm his friends. “Come on, let’s go look at more of the temple.”

Yugi led the group off to one side, and took out his phone, turning on the flashlight and shining it on the painted relief mural on the wall.

“Check out this art. Isn’t it cool?”

“It’s amazing,” Anzu gasped, as the others gave similar expressions of awe and wonder. “What is it?”

“It’s a king, making an offering to the gods,” Yugi explained. “If I remember correctly, this one is…” He squinted as he leaned in to get a closer look. “Yup, Ramesses the Third.”

“Wait, you can read hieroglyphs?!” Honda gasped in surprise.

Yugi blinked, suddenly realizing his mistake. “Um, some of them, yeah,” he lied with a nervous smile. “I like learning different languages.”

“Why is there a painting of a pharaoh in a temple?” Jounouchi asked, frowning slightly. “Seems kinda presumptuous, don’t you think?”

“Oh no, Egyptian temples are full of depictions of pharaohs worshipping the gods. It was pretty normal,” Atem corrected him. “There were a lot of different reasons for them.”

Yugi nodded in agreement. “Yup. In some cases it might be out of genuine piety, or in the hopes the gods would recognize their devotion and reward them with help with something- Healing an injury, glory in battle, ending a famine, stuff like that.”

“Or sometimes it was a form of propaganda,” Atem added in. “You know, ‘Everybody look at me, I’m so cool, I build such nice monuments for everyone to enjoy and I’m really pious so the gods totally love me, which means I’ll take good care of Egypt please don’t rebel against me please ignore my horrible administration check out this cool painting’, something like that,” he explained. “Or sometimes it was to commemorate an event, like an anniversary, a military victory, or the construction of a monument. Or, in the case of Ramesses the Second, because he had no personality other than slapping his own name onto things other people did.”

Jounouchi frowned in confusion. “What..?”

“Yeah, he was like that,” Yugi sighed. “He was dead by the time this temple was built, though. And this particular piece is just to commemorate Ramesses the Third sponsoring the construction of the temple. There’s a couple others further in, though.”

“You guys sure know a lot about this stuff,” Anzu commented in surprise. 

Yugi laughed. “Well, it is our hometown,” he pointed out.

“I guess that’s fair.”

“Do you guys have a favorite pharaoh?” Honda asked.

Atem nodded. “Akhenamkanon the First,” he answered, without much hesitation. “He was a 21st dynasty pharaoh who reigned for almost forty years.”

“What’d he do?”

“I wouldn’t say he necessarily ‘did’ anything in particular, really,” Yugi replied. “It’s not that he was the most accomplished military leader, or built the best monuments, or anything like that. He was just… Kind,” he explained, softly, a sort of thoughtful calmness to his voice. “He was a pacifist who hated war, because he didn’t want to see anyone hurt, not our soldiers nor theirs. He loved his people, and everyone loved him too.”

“So what happened to him?” Anzu wondered.

Yugi and Atem paused, sharing a glance for a moment; The others frowned in confusion at their expressions, surprisingly sad for a question about ancient history.

“...He… His two young sons died,” Atem said quietly. “He blamed himself. The emotional toll was so much that he…” He paused, sighing. “He got sick. And then he just… Never got better.” He shook his head slowly, with eyes downcast.

“Oh,” Anzu whispered. “That’s sad.”

Atem gave a small nod. “Yeah.”

“It… It wasn’t really his fault, though,” Yugi decided quietly, a slightly distant look on his face. “It was- the princes’ fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“They liked to sneak out after dark to go goof off, so they got murdered by some weirdo in a back alley,” Atem explained. “If they’d just stayed home like they were told, they never would have been killed. It’s their fault for not listening.”

“Uh, no it’s not!” Jounouchi blurted out, raising an eyebrow and frowning in disbelief. “They got  _ murdered,  _ dude! How is that anyone’s fault but the murderer?!”

“Yeah, it’s not their fault someone decided to kill them,” Honda agreed.

Anzu nodded. “Jounouchi’s right. That’s a real victim-blaming attitude, guys,” she insisted, putting her hands on her hips.

Yugi and Atem blinked, stunned.

“Oh,” Yugi said simply. “I… I never thought of it like that…”

“I guess you’re right,” Atem admitted, and smiled slightly. “Thank you.” 

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. “You guys are weird, man. I don’t get why you get so personally upset over ancient history.”

“I mean, I cried when we learned about the Library of Alexandria,” Anzu admitted. 

“Yeah, and you’re weird, so my point still stands.”

Yugi laughed. “I still get upset about that, too. Come on, let’s check out the rest of the temple.”

“It’s not as impressive as it was when it was first built, but honestly, it looks a lot better than it has in a long time,” Atem added as they walked. “They cleaned the walls a while back. Used to be you couldn’t even see the paintings.”

“Wow, really?” Anzu gasped.

Atem nodded. “Yeah, up until the recent restoration the walls were so covered in dirt, all the color was totally covered up.”

“They were just completely black,” Yugi recalled. “It was so sad. The temple looks a lot better now! Or… What’s left of it, anyway,” he added with a slight laugh.

“You know, as far as restoration goes, I think it’d be cool if they’d replace the banners,” Atem commented thoughtfully. 

“What banners?” Anzu questioned.

“Did you see how the front had those sort of, like… Tall niches set into the wall every few feet?” Atem began.

“Yeah?”

“Originally, those were made to house these huuuuuuge poles with banners on ‘em,” Atem explained, stretching his arms out for emphasis. “They were supported by eyelets that stuck out of windows on the second floor.”

“Huh.”

“Like our Minecraft castle,” Jounouchi gasped. 

“Exactly like our Minecraft castle,” Atem conformed. “Only taller, and not dyed like pride flags.”

“Oh hey, you guys wanna see some Roman graffiti?” Yugi suggested, with an almost mischievous grin.

“Ooh, yeah!” Jounouchi replied excitedly.

“Yeah, let’s see it!”

“Ok! Let’s see, I think there’s some on that column over there…”

* * *

Yugi and Atem chatted with their friends well into the night, first at the temple, then at a restaurant, then at Jounouchi and Honda’s hotel room; It wasn’t until half past one in the morning, when the group was on their seventh duel, that Honda was the one to suddenly remember that they had to be up at 8 A.M for a tour of the Valley of the Kings. 

And so, reluctantly, the group had parted ways, with many hugs and a promise to hang out again before the field trip was over. Yugi and Atem had continued their night in much the same way they usually would- In other words, they hung out at Ryou’s house, as there weren’t many other places for wandering teens to go to get wifi in the dead of night. Fortunately, this time they found their friend awake, and spent some time recounting the day’s events and playing games.

It was around 5 A.M., just as they’d been about to get ready to leave, that Yugi’s phone curiously vibrated. 

“Oh,” he said softly, just barely audible, with the slightest hint of confusion.

Atem glanced towards Yugi, picking up on his tone. “Hmm? What’s up?”

“It’s… A DM from Jounouchi,” Yugi announced, frowning in puzzlement.

Atem raised an eyebrow. “From Jounouchi? Isn’t it…” He paused, glancing towards the window, as if suddenly uncertain whether it was still night out. “Shouldn’t humans be sleeping right now? What the hell is he doing up?”

“Is he ok?” Ryou wondered, biting his lip in concern.

“I mean to be fair, it is like, the middle of the afternoon in New York time right now,” Yugi pointed out. “And it’s not unusual for Jounouchi to get up randomly in the middle of the night and send something weird he just thought of, so he’s probably- ...Oh,” Yugi said again, his frown deepening.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at this,” Yuugi said, leaning over to show Atem his phone.

* * *

**FlameSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:02 AM _   
Hey so. um   
I know it’s early and I hate to bother you, I’m really really sorry, I just. I couldn’t sleep and uh. I need to talk to you and Atem about something   
It’s really important and again I’m really sorry to bother you but can you just like   
Lmk when you’re up and can talk I guess   
Thanks sorry for the trouble

* * *

Atem and Yugi exchanged worried glances.

* * *

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:05 AM _   
What’s up? Is everything ok?

**FlameSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:06 AM _ _   
_ Wait wtf why are you awake

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:06 AM _ __   
Couldn’t sleep either   
Anyway what’s wrong? Are you ok? :(

**FlameSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:06 AM _ __   
Yeah I’m fine I guess, dw   
Or like. At the moment’s I’m fine but there’s um   
A Thing

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:06 AM _   
What’s the thing?

**FlameSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:07 AM _ __   
Ok so uhhhhh   
This is. Definitely gonna sound crazy and made up and all that shit but listen, I swear I’m not making it up and I’m not crazy, I really need you to believe me please man   
And also to like   
Not freak out or whatever   
Oh and also don’t tell anyone (other than Atem ofc) please I’m begging you keep this between us

**SilentSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:08 AM _   
Go on? I won’t tell, it’s ok

* * *

“He keeps typing and then changing his mind,” Atem observed with a frown, following Yugi out into the kitchen for the sake of privacy.

“Yeah…” Yugi glanced worriedly up at Atem, and then back to his phone. (If his heart had still functioned, he thought, it would have been racing with anxiety.) “I hope he’s ok…”

* * *

**FlameSwordsman ** _ Today at 5:11 AM _ __   
Ok so   
Uh   
Idk how to really say this really   
But uh   
So like   
So   
Basically, uh. Thing is   
I’m uh   
I’m a werewolf   
And I know I know I know that sounds like fake as fuck but I swear on my life I am not joking I’m not crazy, I’m NOT A FUCKING FURRY BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING I STG, I’m just. I’m genuonely a werewolf ok   
Like idk what else to say that’s just it   
Anyway   
So like, this is ALSO gonna sound stupid as fuck and that’s because I am stupid as fuck, but I kinda forgot to keep track of the lunar cycle what with the whole field trip and all, fucked with my routine n shit yknow   
Anyway uhhhhh fucking APPARENTLY tonight is a full moon because the moon is a BITCH and can’t ever have convenient timing for my life fucking ever anyway idk what to fucking do because there’s literally nothing I can do about it and like   
I can’t. fucking afford to pay damages if I tear up the hotel room, Which I’m Gonna if I have to be hear tonight   
*here   
So like   
Idk man I just, you live here and all, so. I need somewhere safe I can go when my transformation hits where I’m not going to get in trouble for destroying shit. I won’t hurt anyone, I swear I’m not violent towards people or even animals usually, but I do get kinda destructive honestly just bc that shit hurts like hell, but like. I need somewhere to go preferrably somewhere isolated I CANNOT do this in the hotel   
Idc if it’s a fucking back alley in the worst part of town just. I’ll take literally anything I don’t care I just need Somewhere   
Please I’m begging you Yugi you two are the only people I can think to go to and I really need help I’m so sorry

**SilentSwordsman** __Today at 5:13 AM  
Ok, first of all, calm down. Take some deep breaths, maybe get a drink of water? I’m not judging you, I promise <3  
I think I might know a place, but give me a sec to talk to Atem about it, ok?

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:13 AM  
Yeah ofc  
Thanks Yugi

* * *

Yugi and Atem glanced at each other with wide eyes.

“Should we… Should we have him come to our place..?” Yugi questioned, keeping his voice low.

“I don’t see what other choice we have,” Atem replied. 

Yugi nodded, though he looked uncertain. “You’re right, but… If we do this…” He paused and took a deep breath. “There’d be no hiding the fact that we’re really vampires. And if Jounouchi and the others find out… That’s it for us.”

“I know,” Atem sighed. “But what else can we do? He’s our friend. He needs us. We have to help him, even if it means sacrificing our friendships,” he said quietly.

“I know.”

Atem and Yugi hesitated for just one more moment, watching each other silently, no need for words- Their eyes alone conveyed everything, all their fear and worry and understanding- Until finally, they nodded to each other, and turned their attention back towards Yugi’s phone.

* * *

**SilentSwordsman** __Today at 5:15 AM  
Ok good news, I have a place  
But, uh. you might not Like It  
orz 

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:15 AM  
That’s fine, like I said I’ll take literally anything idc where it is, thank you so much  
Seriously like. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this man

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 5:15 AM  
_<3

**FlameSwordsman** _Today at 5:15 AM  
_So where is it?

**SilentSwordsman** __Today at 5:16 AM  
Our house, we’ll show you where it is  
You know where Tutankhamen’s tomb is?

**FlameSwordsman** _Today at 5:16 AM  
_Uhhhhh I don’t right now, but I will in a few hours I guess

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 5:16 AM  
_Great. Meet us there at sundown

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:17 AM  
Sundown?? That’s cutting it a little fuckin close!!!  
Shit I’m sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you  
I just

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 5:18 AM  
_I know

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:18 AM  
Yeah  
Sorry Yugi :(

**SilentSwordsman** __Today at 5:18 AM  
It’s ok  
I’m really really sorry, but sundown is the earliest we can do. I know that’s not really ideal, but fwiw at least it’s not far. This is the best we can do  
I’m sorry

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:18 AM  
It’s ok  
I’ll take what I can get tbh, sorry, just freaked out a little bit for a minute there  
I trust you and Atem

**SilentSwordsman** __Today at 5:19 AM  
^^  
We’ll see you later then! You should try to get some sleep now, ok?

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:19 AM  
Yeah, I will  
Thanks

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 5:19 AM  
_No problem!! Ily!!!!!!! Get some good sleep uwu

**FlameSwordsman** __Today at 5:20 AM  
Thanks, ily too, see you later bro  
Goodnight I guess hfskshdk

**SilentSwordsman** _Today at 5:20 AM  
_Goodnight!!! <3

* * *

_ Thebes, Egypt. 2019.  _

Jounouchi stood nervously outside the entrance to Tutankhamen’s tomb, glancing around as he watched the sun set. He fidgeted anxiously- Putting his hands in his pockets, taking them out again, twirling his hair, biting and unbiting his lip. He clenched his jaw tight, hoping to relieve some of the pressure; He was already starting to feel sore.

The more time passed, the more anxious he became. Where were Yugi and Atem? He could already see the last light of the sunset begin to disappear behind the ridge, the full moon starting to climb higher and higher in the sky; Were Yugi and Atem not coming? They’d said they would meet him at sundown, why were-

“Sorry for the wait,” a voice called from behind him. Jounouchi jumped in surprise, his heart seemingly almost leaping right out of his chest.

“Jesus, what the fuck! Don’t scare me like that!” he gasped, eyes wide as his heart rate gradually started to return to normal. 

“Oh! I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to!” Yugi blurted out apologetically, shaking his head and putting his hands up. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, I’m just jumpy,” Jounouchi assured him with a laugh- Though it was a half-hearted one, dampened by pain. “Anyway, let’s go.”

Yugi nodded, and gestured for Jounouchi to follow him down the path. 

“Sorry again about the wait,” Atem told him as they walked. “How much time do you have left? You know, until you, uh…”

“Yeeeeah, um, it’s already started actually,” Jounouchi confessed, wincing in pain. “I’ve got- M-Maybe half an hour until it’s totally done.”

Atem’s eyes widened. _ “Oh,”  _ he said simply, and began walking a little bit faster.

They walked for a few more minutes, until Jounouchi suddenly stopped, doubling over as another wave of pain ripped through his body.

“Are you ok?!” Yugi and Atem both exclaimed in chorus.

“Y-Yeah, I’m- I’ll be fine, we need to hurry though,” Jounouchi gasped. “You guys have ibuprofen at your house, right?”

“We don’t, sorry,” Yugi admitted.

“What about tylenol?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Great.” Jounouchi sighed as he continued walking, with slow, jerky movements. “Well, this is gonna suck.”

“Oh? Suck, you say?” Atem teased. 

Yugi raised an eyebrow. “...That joke doesn’t really work in this context, Atem.”

“Fuck you, it was funny.”

“Heh… Suck,” Jounouchi joked, with a quiet, half-hearted yet genuine laugh. “Succ-c-c-c-c- Ow, god,” he whimpered quietly.

“See?  _ Someone _ appreciates my humor,” Atem told Yugi, gesturing towards Jounouchi as they slowed to a stop.

Atem and Yugi stopped walking, and turned towards the cliff face.

“Hey, guys, come on,” Jounouchi grunted through clenched (and unusually elongated) teeth, curling in on himself as his body continued to torment him. “W-We gotta get going, you can-  _ Ahhh, fuck-  _ Y-You can… look at the-”

Jounouchi nearly fell over in shock as Atem gave a quick tug, and suddenly the stone itself moved, revealing a carved slab Jounouchi hadn’t noticed in the darkness. A room could be seen behind the rock, pitch black beyond the small light of their phone flashlights.

“We’re here,” Yugi said quietly, his expression suddenly growing more solemn.

Jounouchi blinked, frowning and glancing around the room, momentarily too confused to even register his pain. “Here? Here where?”

“Our house,” Atem answered, and gestured inside. “After you.”

As Yugi led the way into the dark chamber, he snapped his fingers; A series of torches in decorative holders along the walls instantly lit, filling the room with light and revealing a long, downward-sloped hallway. He walked through it calmly, ignoring the painted reliefs and inscriptions that covered the walls.

“This is… A tomb,” Jounouchi observed.

Yugi nodded. “W-Well, we… We are vampires, after all,” he said with a small laugh, flashing a sheepish- and fanged- grin. 

...Jounouchi’s eyes slowly widened with understanding.

“So you guys really weren’t just joking,” he gasped.

“I’m sorry,” Atem said quietly.

Jounouchi sent him a worried glance. “No, it’s fine! At least n-now I understand why you guys smell so-  _ Aaagh!”  _ he cried out suddenly as another wave of pain hit; This time, in the confines of the small, quiet hall, the sickening crunch of bone could be heard.

“Jounouchi! Are you ok?!” Yugi gasped, rushing to help him.

Jounouchi gave no response- He simply shook his head, and hurried forwards, away from Yugi’s grasp. He stumbled down into the living room, barely able to keep upright; He spotted the couch, and quickly lurched towards it, collapsing down onto the cushions with a heavy gasp.

He lay there for a moment, breathing heavily and whimpering in pain, until another wave hit. He screamed this time, writhing and convulsing on the couch as his body was cruelly manipulated; Atem and Yugi could now clearly see his face, hands, and feet beginning to distort, as small patches of hair all over his body gradually grew longer and thicker.

Atem ran over to the couch, kneeling down by Jounouchi’s side. “What can we do to help you?” he asked seriously, with wide eyes.

Jonouchi groaned. “N-Not much, really,” he admitted. (His words were slurred and distorted, growing increasingly difficult to make out as the structure of his mouth itself shifted as he spoke.) “If you… if- Got any f-furniture you-  _ Aaaah!” _ he screamed, arching his back and tearing into the cushions as pain shot through his body like fire, his transformation becoming steadily more rapid; He kicked out in pain, and after a moment, he finally gasped and fell back down. 

There was something… Viscerally unsettling about Jounouchi’s appearance now- Neither fully boy nor wolf, sweaty and contorted with pain, a creature clearly not meant to exist. It was easy to see why such a process hurt him so badly.

“I-I’m going to see if I can find anything to help with this,” Yugi announced, hurrying towards the study.

“...Get the furniture out if you don’t w-want it broken,” Jounouchi finally finished. “Some- Some p-pillows might… Be nice, ‘fyou don’t mind ‘em getting shredded…” He grit his teeth and fought back another scream. There were tears in his eyes, now. “Y-You should go, only gets uglier from here,” he gasped.

Atem shook his head. “No way. I’m not going to just leave you here to deal with this alone,” he promised. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to get some pillows.”

Atem ran towards the bedroom, and quickly began grabbing armfuls of pillows out of the coffins. He accidentally dropped a few as he heard more screams of pain, distorted and warped as they slowly grew closer and closer to the anguished, angry howls of a wolf.

Atem shuddered, biting his lip, and hurried to bring back what he’d collected.

By the time Atem returned to the living room, Jounouchi was nearly unrecognizable, more wolf than human. Atem finally understood what Jounouchi meant about the furniture, too- The coffee table seemed to be smashed into several pieces as Jounouchi pounded against the floor in an angry, pain-induced destructive haze. Next to him, a distressed-looking Yugi tried to hold him steady, muttering reassuring words and pleading with him to stay still as he tried to slip an amulet over his neck; Yugi looked up upon seeing Atem begin to pile pillows on the floor, and Atem could see a small flash of relief flicker across his face.

“Here,” Yugi said, tossing a scroll towards Atem.

Atem caught the scroll with ease, and unrolled it- And then frowned. “Why is this written in Greek?” he wondered, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, it was the first pain spell I found! Probably came from the Library or something, I don’t know,” Yugi replied irritatedly, glancing back at Atem for only a moment as he struggled with the amulet. “Just hurry up and read it!”

“Right.” Atem nodded, and began to read off the scroll. His expression grew serious, dignified, as if still recalling the preparation he’d received so long ago to become the king he never was.

Atem fumbled a bit with his pronunciation- His ancient Greek was a little rusty- But it was good enough, and slowly but surely, Jounouchi began to grow calmer. By the time he finished, Jounouchi’s rage had stopped; He slowly lay down on top of the pillows with his head in Yugi’s lap, shuddering and giving sad whimpers as the last waves of bone-stretching ran their course.

“Poor thing… He’s in so much pain,” Yugi murmured, stroking Jounouchi’s head gently. “I’m sorry, Jounouchi. I hope our magic helps you at least a little bit.”

Jounouchi glanced up at him with tired, pitiful eyes. He let out a sound somewhere between a sigh, a whimper, and a groan, and sunk further down into a lying position; After a while, his labored breathing began to slow, his eyes gradually falling shut.

It wasn’t long before the room was quiet, and Yugi had a T-shirt clad wolf sleeping in his lap.

They stayed like that for some time; Neither Yugi nor Atem said a word. They couldn’t bring themselves to interrupt Jounouchi’s well-needed rest, after seeing the ordeal he’d been through. Yugi did, however, continue petting the top of his head affectionately; Atem eventually joined in, lying on his stomach and stroking Jounouchi’s back with the gentlest touch he could give.

After a little over an hour, Jounouchi began to stir. He slowly blinked his eyes open, and then startled slightly, glancing around wildly with wide eyes- But soon relaxed, as he remembered where he was. After a moment, he gave a wide yawn, and slowly pushed himself to his feet.

“Good morning,” Yugi said with a gentle smile. “How are you feeling? Better now?”

Jounouchi didn’t respond at first, stretching out his sore limbs after his nap. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook out his whole body, sending little tufts of fur flying through the air, and yawned once again; Now fully awake, he stood up, and then turned his attention towards Yugi and Atem. He tilted his head, watching the two of them with a thoughtful, almost puzzled look for a moment.

Yugi frowned slightly in concern, confused as to why he was being stared at. “Jounouchi? Um… Are you-”

Yugi didn’t get to finish his sentence as he was suddenly tackled to the ground, knocking the air from his chest. Jounouchi barked loudly, and... Began rapidly licking Yugi’s face.

“Woah! Hey! Haha, that tickles!” Yugi laughed. “Ok, ok, I love you too, get off me already!”

Jounouchi gave Yugi a few more licks for good measure, and then backed down, sitting back on his haunches and grinning in satisfaction. He turned towards Atem, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

Atem’s eyes widened as he realized just what was coming next. “Oh, no,” he whispered.

Sure enough, Atem was on the floor a moment later, squirming and laughing as Jounouchi showed him the same affection he’d given Yugi.

“Noooo, it tickles!” Atem squealed. “Aah, stop, stop, it- Ahaha! T-Tickles!” he struggled to get his words out between giggles, trying and failing to get away. (Not that he was  _ really _ trying, though; If he’d genuinely wanted to escape, he could have thrown Jounouchi with ease. As it was, though, it was more play fighting.)

After Jounouchi finally ended his affectionate assault, Atem slowly pushed himself up off the floor, gasping for breath as the last of his giggles died down.

“Gross, now I’m all covered in slobber,” he complained, wiping his face on his sleeve.

Jounouchi cocked an eyebrow (Did wolves even technically have eyebrows, Atem wondered?). As if to simply be contrary, he leaned over and gave Atem an exaggeratedly long, wide lick on the cheek.

“Hey! Rude!” Atem laughed, and pushed Jounouchi away, wiping his cheek on his shoulder.

Jounouchi made a sound that could almost have been a laugh, and stuck his tongue out teasingly. After a moment, though, he sat back down again, letting out a contented-yet-tired sigh.

“So… Now what?” Yugi wondered, glancing between Atem and Jounouchi.

Jounouchi tilted his head, as if wondering that himself. He glanced around the room thoughtfully, and after a moment, he stood back up.

Yugi and Atem watched as Jounouchi began picking up the broken pieces of the coffee table, holding them delicately between his teeth and putting them in a neat pile in the corner of the room.

Yugi blinked in surprise. “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he assured him. “Don’t worry about the table, we’ll-”

Jounouchi gave a soft growl as he carried another piece of wood- Not enough of a growl to be threatening, but enough to convey a clear “no”.

“Alright, nevermind,” Yugi said quickly, putting his hands up in surrender. “At least let me help you, then.”

Yugi began picking up fragments of wood as well, adding them to the pile; Atem, meanwhile, as quick-thinking as ever, decided it would be best to get the broom from the kitchen.

Atem sighed as he began sweeping the floor. “Man… Why is it that every time a new friend visits our house, the coffee table gets destroyed?” he wondered, shaking his head in dismay.

Jounouchi frowned and tilted his head at Atem, making a quiet questioning noise. 

“You know our friend Ryou?” Atem began; Jounouchi nodded, and Atem pointed towards the trap door in the ceiling above them. “The first time we met him, he fell through our back door. Landed right on top of the coffee table, snapped the poor thing clean in half,” he explained.

“We initially thought he was dead,” Yugi recalled with a laugh. “Luckily, he was fine- Just a bit bruised.”

With the remains of the coffee table now neatly tucked away in the corner, Yugi spread out the pillows on the floor, and flopped down casually. Atem and Jounouchi soon followed suit. 

“We should play a game,” Atem decided. (Jounouchi seemed to agree, ears perking up with interest.)

“What kind of game, though?” Yugi wondered. “I feel like a lot of games would be kind of difficult to play without fingers. Or the ability to talk.”

Jounouchi gave a disappointed whine of agreement.

“Hmm…” Atem paused thoughtfully, putting a hand on his chin as he contemplated this. “What about Twister?” he suggested after a moment. “We’ve got enough people, and plenty of space, now that the coffee table is gone.”

“Sounds good to me,” Yugi decided with a shrug. “What do you think, Jounouchi?”

Jounouchi barked and nodded enthusiastically.

“Twister it is, then,” Atem said, and stood up to retrieve the game. 

As Atem dug through the ornate, battered old storage chest, Yugi and Jounouchi waited in silence, fidgeting idly.

Suddenly, Yugi caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye; With a quick, almost reflexive movement, he shot out one hand, closing it around the source of the motion almost the instant he saw it.

“Hooray!” he exclaimed as he held up a small, wriggling lizard; With a quick, decisive motion, he twisted its head between two claws, instantly decapitating the little creature. He brought its neck to his lips, and sucked out its blood within seconds, as casually as drinking from a juice box. 

It was then that he noticed Jounouchi staring at him in horror. Jounouchi recoiled and tensed, whimpering and flattening his ears against his skull as he frowned in disgust, glancing rapidly between Yugi and the dead lizard.

Had Yugi been alive, he most certainly would have been bright red with embarrassment.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I forgot you’re not used to that!” he blurted out, utterly mortified. “I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you- That was really rude of me to just do that right in front of you, I’m so sorry,” he apologized again and again. 

Yugi hurried to the kitchen to throw the remains of his snack in the trash, still so ashamed he could practically feel it physically.

“I’m really sorry,” he repeated as he returned to the living room. “I mean, that’s- This is basically how we survive, so… A-And I know it’s not really pretty, but I’m not used to humans being around- Or, or werewolves, sorry, I didn’t mean to mislabel you- Um, sometimes we do cook-”

Yugi’s nervous babbling was interrupted as Jounouchi suddenly put one paw gently on Yugi’s shoulder. Yugi went quiet, frowning in confusion and staring at Jounouchi; Jounouchi stared back, and finally gave a strange bark that sounded suspiciously similar to “Bruh.”

Yugi blinked. “Oh… uh… Ok, thanks..?” he muttered, feeling slightly dazed. 

“Finally found Twister!” Atem exclaimed, triumphantly holding up the box.

Yugi sighed as he watched Atem replace the lid on the chest, shaking his head to forget the embarrassment of the previous incident. Instead, he stood up, and grabbed one edge of the mat to help Atem spread it out on the floor.

“Alright, who’s going to be the spinner first?” Atem asked.

“I’ll do it, I guess,” Yugi replied. He took the spinner, and sat crosslegged on the floor, facing the mat.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” Atem replied. Jounouchi nodded and gave a bark of confirmation.

“Alright, here goes…” Yugi flicked the spinner wheel with one claw, and waited for it to stop, listening to the soft whirring noise it made as it spun against the cardboard. “Ok, right foot- Wait, hold on,” Yugi interrupted himself with a frown. “Jounouchi… You’re not colorblind, are you?”

Jounouchi shook his head.

“Ok, just checking, dogs and all, you know… Anyway, right foot green,” Yugi called out.

Atem and Jounouchi stepped onto the mat, and the game began. 

The game progressed fairly simply at first. It didn’t take long, however, before things got more difficult, until finally Atem was bending over sideways with his arms crossed; Jounouchi, meanwhile, was sprawled out so far he took up almost the entire mat.

“Left foot blue,” Yugi called out.

“Oh god,” Atem groaned as he tried to stay upright.

Jounouchi glanced at the mat below him, trying to figure out how to reach. If he could only…

...Jounouchi hesitated for a moment, and then slowly, casually put his left forepaw on the nearest blue circle.

“I see you, Jounouchi,” Yugi warmed him. “It’s left foot, not left hand.”

Jounouchi barked, and remained stubbornly where he was.

“Left  _ foot,”  _ Yugi repeated. 

Jounouchi barked and grumbled, waving his paw as if to emphasize it.

Yugi sighed. “That doesn’t count.”

Jounouchi rolled his eyes and gave a several rather sarcastic-sounding barks.

“No, Yugi’s right,” Atem added in. “Even if it’s  _ technically _ a foot, you can’t count it as a hand sometimes and a foot other times! That’d be cheating,” he insisted.

Jounouchi gave a long series of argumentative barks, growls, and whines, gesturing exaggeratedly with the appendage in question-

Yugi huffed. “Look, if you’re gonna get all nitpicky about it, then technically it’s not a foot  _ or _ a hand. It’s a paw,” he insisted, putting his hands on his hips. “Now for the purposes of Twister we will be playing under house rule that foot is equivalent to back paw and hand is equivalent to front paw. Got that, everyone?”

Jounouchi rolled his eyes and gave an irritated snort. With exaggerated reluctance, he finally put his front left paw back on the spot it had been on before, and moved his back left paw to blue.

And promptly fell over.

* * *

After several adrenaline-inducing rounds of Twister, Atem, Yugi, and Jounouchi found themselves lying in a comfortable pile on the floor, the Twister mat unceremoniously shoved to the side. 

“You’re so warm and soft,” Atem sighed, leaning against Jounouchi. “It’s nice. I’m always cold.”

Jounouchi gave a gentle, apologetic whine, and nuzzled against Atem affectionately.

“Hey… You know what?” Yuugi said thoughtfully from the other side of Jounouchi, as he stared idly at the paintings on the wall. “It’s a nice night. I think we should get out of this stuffy old tomb for a while and go have a picnic up on the hill.”

Jounouchi tilted his head and made a questioning noise.

“Don’t worry, we won’t decapitate any more geckos,” Yugi assured him. “We do have some real food in the kitchen, just like… Not a lot.”

“A picnic sounds nice,” Atem agreed. “What do you think, Jounouchi?”

Jounouchi nodded.

Yugi smiled widely. “Great! Let’s go pack some stuff, then.”

Jounouchi followed Atem and Yugi into the kitchen, glancing around as they began scouting the kitchen for picnic supplies. He watched curiously as Yugi opened a large wooden door on the floor, and descended a rough stone ramp to a cellar. Several minutes later, Yugi emerged carrying a cylindrical basket made from woven reeds.

Atem and Yugi made quick work of packing the basket, going back and forth from the cellar to the kitchen and rifling through all manner of kitchen storage in search of food and dishes. By the time they were done, they’d assembled a respectable selection of Egyptian food, packaged junk food, and an amusingly eclectic set of dishes- Victorian silverware stood out strangely against a Greek jug and circa 1970s bowls. (The jug, of course, was filled with 100% authentic and traditional Egyptian… Coca-Cola.)

Yugi led the way out of the kitchen, basket in hand as he headed for the door.

“Ok, let’s- Atem, where are you going?” Yugi wondered, raising an eyebrow and glancing up to where Atem hovered near the ceiling.

“I thought you said we were going to the hill?” Atem replied confusedly, holding the trap door halfway open. 

“We have to take the long way,” Yugi reminded him, gesturing to Jounouchi.

Atem paused, frowning and tilting his head in confusion for a moment before understanding. 

“Oh, right,” he said, and dropped back down to ground level. “Ok, let’s go.”

Atem trudged reluctantly behind Yugi and Jounouchi, grumbling in irritation as they continued up the winding path to the top of the cliff. He settled down after a few minutes, though, distracted by the view; It wasn’t often that he and Yugi took the “long way” to the hill. It was almost meditative, he thought.

As they neared the top, Jounouchi suddenly stopped in his tracks. He tensed and stared in the direction of the valley, ears flattening as he growled quietly.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Yugi asked.

Jounouchi nodded towards the valley and gave a quiet bark. Atem tilted his head curiously, listening for whatever Jounouchi had picked up on; He soon made out the sound of distant voices and movement.

“Oh, it’s just the grave robbers,” he realized, instantly relaxing. “Don’t worry, they won’t bother us.”

Jounouchi paused, frowning and tilting his head at Atem in confusion.

“He means archaeologists,” Yugi explained with a sigh.

Jounouchi gave an amused snort, and continued on up the path, no longer concerned about possible disruptions.

“Hmm… This looks like a pretty good spot,” Yugi decided, as they reached a relatively flat portion of the hillside, a decent way up. “I wish we could go all the way to the top, the view up there is really nice… But there’s not really a decent hiking trail, I don’t think,” he told Jounouchi with an apologetic frown.

Jounouchi gave a snort of disbelief, and shook his head, turning towards the hillside. He tensed for a second; Before Atem and Yugi had a chance to say anything, he took off sprinting up the hill, sending rocks and sand tumbling down in his wake as he bounded towards the hillside.

“Woah! Hey!” Yugi coughed, closing his eyes and raising an arm to shield himself from the cloud of dust blowing past. “W-Wait for us!”

Yugi and Atem soon found themselves half-walking, half-jumping up the hill, until they found Jounouchi watching them from the top, bouncing and wagging his tail excitedly as he waited for them to catch up. He barked and ran circles around them as they arrived, full of excess energy from his climb.

“A little warning would have been nice,” Yugi sighed, shaking his head in amusement.

He placed the basked down on the ground, and began spreading the picnic blanket out on top of the sand. Atem soon joined in, helping Yugi to unpack the contents of the picnic basket; Soon enough, the group found themselves seated comfortably on top of the blanket, watching the stars and munching away on a variety of snacks.

“Look at the moon,” Yugi said wistfully, munching on a piece of falafel. “It’s so pretty!”

Jounouchi growled in irritation.

Yugi glanced over at Jounouchi and frowned worriedly. “Oh… I guess the moon must be frustrating for you, huh,” he realized. “I’m sorry.”

Jounouchi sighed, and gave a small, reassuring shrug. He glanced up at the moon, a thoughtful look on his face; It was clear that he could see the beauty in it as well, though his feelings seemed a bit conflicting.

“The stars aren’t as bright as they used to be,” Atem sighed.

“Yeah, all that light pollution really makes a difference,” Yugi agreed, frowning in disappointment. “At the same time, though, it makes for a cool view. Luxor looks so sparkly,” he commented, pointing out towards the horizon. The city glowed brightly in the distance, twinkling lights reflecting off the surface of the Nile.

Jounouchi barked in agreement, watching the scene below with a contented smile.

Atem nudged Jounouchi gently to get his attention. “Hey. If you guys have time before your trip is over, you should try going up the mountain trail,” he suggested, as he reached for the hummus.

Jounouchi tilted his head thoughtfully, and turned around to glance at the mountain behind them, staring at it with a thoughtful expression.

“It’s called Ta Dehent, or ‘the Peak’,” Atem explained, turning around to look as well. “These days, though, most people call it El Qurn- ‘The Horn’.”

“It’s kind of symbolic, really,” Yugi added. “The Peak looks like a big pyramid if you look at it from the right angle.”

Atem nodded. “Yeah. So it’s kind of a way of identifying the families buried here with the old pyramids, even if everyone figured out ages ago that pyramid tombs are an incredibly stupid idea.”

Jounouchi frowned, and tilted his head once again, making a questioning noise of confusion.

“Hmm? Oh, pyramids were a bad idea because they’re so obvious,” Atem clarified. “I mean, they’re huge, and exclusively used for tombs. So it’s kind of like having a big billboard that says ‘Hey, come rob me!’, which is why they got pillaged so quickly.”

“The Valley had plenty of grave robbery problems of its own, though,” Yugi admitted, frowning slightly.

“Yeah… Honestly, the way tombs work, there’s no real way to keep them from getting robbed without constant guarding. So that kinda sucks.”

Upon seeing Jounouchi’s confused expression, Yugi paused for a moment, staring out at the horizon as he tried to think about how to explain it.

“It’s like… In Egyptian culture, honoring the dead is really important, right?” he began. “You’re supposed to bring them offerings and stuff, and normally the place to do that is their tomb. But obviously, if you can’t actually  _ find _ the tomb, you can’t really do that… So it’s kind of contradictory, because you need tombs to be hidden so they don’t get robbed, but you also need them to be known to the families and friends of the dead so they could make offerings. So there’s no real solution there,” he admitted.

“Some people did have mortuary temples,” Atem added in. “Like, if you look over there-” He pointed towards two other sources of light below the hill; Jounouchi followed his gaze. “That one’s the temple of Mentuhotep the Second, and the one next to it is Hatshepsut’s.”

“Not everyone had mortuary temples, though,” Yugi clarified.

Atem nodded. “Yeah. Hatshepsut’s is massive… Although to be fair, Hatshepsut had a boner for architecture and I’m pretty sure if she didn’t commission a new ridiculously big and fancy temple every five minutes, she would die.”

Jounouchi gave an amused snort.

“Hey, you know what?” Yugi interrupted, having a sudden change in his train of thought. “Jounouchi, when we get back, we should give you a tour of our tomb!”

Jounouchi seemed to like this idea, as he barked cheerfully, ears perking up with interest.

For a while, Yugi, Atem, and Jounouchi simply watched the view in silence, enjoying their snacks and contemplating the landscape. A chilly breeze blew by as the cold desert night continued to set in; Yugi and Atem were unfazed, having long grown used to it, while Jounouchi was… Well, fluffy enough that it didn’t really matter. Such as wolves were.

“Jounouchi, will it bother you if I put some blood in my soda?” Yugi asked, holding up a small vial. “It’s not human blood, for what it’s worth- Just small animals, mostly lizards.”

Jounouchi shook his head, and Yugi smiled in relief as he poured the contents into his glass. “Atem, want some?”

“Yes, please.”

As Atem sipped his soda, he stared thoughtfully at the moon. 

“You know, in some legends, vampires can turn into wolves… But I’ve never been able to do it,” he mused. “I can only do a bat. I feel ripped off.”

Jounouchi watched Atem with a thoughtful hum.

“Yeah, I can’t turn into a wolf either,” Yugi agreed, frowning in disappointment. “Maybe it’s like, a grown-up thing? Maybe kids can’t do it? I mean, neither of us either finished puberty. Maybe if we’d been a little older when we died, we could have turned into wolves.”

_ “Can _ other vampires actually turn into wolves at all, though?” Atem wondered.

“I mean, I assume so. Why else would all the stories talk about it?”

“We’ve never seen anyone turn into a wolf, though. And there’s plenty of bullshit in vampire legends, too, like that we’re obsessed with counting things.”

Yugi raised an eyebrow. “Atem, you do algebra  _ for fun.” _

“I  _ like _ algebra! It’s like puzzles but with numbers! It is fun!”

Jounouchi glanced between Yugi and Atem with amusement; Normally, he found the inability to contribute to conversation frustrating, but he had to admit that listening to his friends argue over their own hypothetical abilities and urban legends was highly entertaining.

“Look, my point is, most vampire stories have  _ some  _ sort of truth to them,” Yugi reiterated. “We might not be able to turn into wolves, but-”

“Wait, wait, wait.  _ Most _ vampire stories?” Atem interrupted.

“Yeah?” Yugi repeated, frowning in confusion.

“Is this including or excluding Twilight?”

...Yugi took a deep breath, stood up, calmly walked over to stand behind Atem, and promptly grabbed him by the wrist and flung him over his shoulder and into the ground.

* * *

The group wound up staying on the hill for a good hour or two, until the food had long gone cold and Jounouchi had begun to show signs of tiredness. They packed up their dishes, said goodbye to the moon overhead, and climbed back down the hill and along the cliff trail to return to Yugi and Atem’s tomb. There, Jounouchi waited patiently in the living room as Yugi and Atem wiped the dishes clean and put everything away.

“Alright, ready for a tour?” Yugi asked, stretching out with a yawn as he returned to the living room.

Jounouchi gave an enthusiastic bark and stood up, wagging his tail in excitement.

Yugi grinned, and nodded towards one of the doorways. “You’ve already seen the kitchen, so I guess we’ll go this way first,” he decided. “Watch your step, there’s a bit of a ledge.”

Jounouchi followed Yugi and Atem through the doorway, taking care not to trip over the step at the entrance. The room, he found, was lined along the walls with tables; Several storage chests sat underneath them, and a lower table in the middle was covered in wood carving tools, jars of paints, and an open sketchbook.

“Do you know what shabtis are?” Atem asked Jounouchi.

Jounouchi paused, frowning and tilting his head as he thought about it, a distant look on his face as if trying to recall; For a brief moment, he glanced up, as if he’d remembered- And then frowned again.

He shook his head.

Atem laughed. “That’s ok, I didn’t expect you to. Shabtis are little figurines that get buried with the dead,” he explained. “They’re shaped like different types of workers, to act as servants to the dead, so you don’t have to do any work in the afterlife. Our dad said that in ancient times- Ancient to us, I mean- People used to actually sacrifice live humans to be buried as servants for the afterlife, but then I guess people figured out pretty fast how fucked up that was, so shabtis were invented as a replacement,” he recalled.

Yugi nodded. “Yup. They get buried by the dozens with royalty, so we had a lot of them, and initially they just kind of took up space- Since, obviously, we’re not dead, so they’re useless to us,” he pointed out, shrugging. “So, when we first started living here, we used to play with them like they were dolls sometimes. Just to pass the time.”

“And then eventually, we started making dioramas out of ‘em,” Atem finished. “And eventually we even started carving our own figures, and things to go with them.”

Jounouchi stretched out his neck, hopping up and down slightly and frowning as he tried to get a better look at the tabletop scenes.

“Oh, can you not see from down there?” Yugi realized with an apologetic frown. “You can put your paws up on the table if you like. It’s alright, these tables are pretty sturdy.”

Jounouchi followed this suggestion. His eyes widened in awe as he finally saw the contents of the tables from a proper angle; He looked closely at each one, taking in every little detail, and made several odd-sounding growls of approval.

“This one’s one of the older ones we have our right now, the assassination of Julius Caesar,” Yugi said, pointing out the diorama in question. “This one’s the entirety of Return of the Jedi, took us a couple years to finish that one. We’ve also got the Lego Death Star, um…”

Yugi paused, glancing around in search of the set in question; Jounouchi appeared to spot it first, running across the room and right up to the table. He carefully nudged it with one paw, turning it on its base to see all the different rooms.

“Well, I guess we know where your priorities are,” Atem muttered under his breath.

Jounouchi gave an apologetic whine, climbing down from the table and looking at Atem with a guilty expression.

Atem sighed. “It’s ok, I know you didn’t mean anything by it,” he assured him gently. “I will admit the Death Star set is pretty cool.”

Jounouchi nuzzled against Atem’s leg affectionately; Atem leaned down to scratch the top of Jounouchi’s head.

“Want to see our current project?” Yugi asked.

Jounouchi nodded.

Yugi directed his attention over to the work table in the center of the room- Low enough that Jounouchi could see it clearly while standing on the ground.

“We’ve been working on this one for… God, how long now? Fifteen years? Twenty?” Atem wondered, frowning slightly.

“Let’s see… I think it was 1999 when we started it, so… Yeah, twenty years,” Yugi confirmed. “It’s a replica of Dracula’s castle from Symphony of the Night. Ryou’s been helping us with it, too- Oh, actually, we’ve sent some pictures of this one, haven’t we?” he suddenly realized. “We showed you some of the figures, right?”

Jounouchi nodded, recalling photos sent to the group once or twice.

“Well, now you get to see it up close, I guess,” Yugi laughed.

“The reason it’s taking so long isn’t just because it’s so big, but also because it’s been a real challenge as far as construction goes,” Atem explained. “It has to be wall-mounted, obviously, but it’s also designed so that any of the rooms can be taken down and the walls removed. And we’re trying to make it completely accurate, right down to all the monsters and the background details,” he added with a proud smile. 

“Oh! I know what you’ll like!” Yugi exclaimed suddenly, and ran over to the table above which the majority of the castle diorama was currently mounted. He grabbed one of the carved wooden figurines, and ran back to join the others, placing it on the table in front of Jounouchi. “Look! It’s wolf Alucard!”

Jounouchi gasped in surprise, and stared at the figurine with wide eyes, examining it from different angles. He jumped up and down in excitement, glancing at Yugi and Atem with a wide, gleeful smile and barking enthusiastically.

“I’m glad you like it,” Atem told him with a smile. “We’ve got some other figures too, like… Let’s see… Oh, here’s Maria,” he said, grabbing a figurine of a woman from across the table. “We still have to paint the gold details on this one, but it’s mostly done.”

Jounouchi nodded, looking the figure over curiously. His attention, however, still wound up being drawn back to the small purple wolf.

“Let me see if I can find regular Alucard,” Yugi said, walking back over to the diorama. He looked it over for a moment, before finally finding the right figure.

“Here he is,” he announced, and placed it gently on the table.

Jounouchi examined the figure with interest, gently turning it around with one paw to look at it from different angles. He gave a bark and a proud nod of approval.

Yugi laughed, pleased by the compliments. “Glad you like it. Want to check out the next room?” he suggested, nodding towards another doorway.

Jououchi nodded, and followed behind Yugi and Atem, taking one last glance at the figures on the table before continuing on.

The next room was a strange one, Jounouchi thought. It contained two desks with chairs, a cabinet with shelves, some additional shelves along the wall, and a bookcase with diamond-shaped cubby holes- Jounouchi almost thought it was a wine cabinet, but upon closer glance, it became clear that it was actually full of old scrolls. A number of maps and diagrams hung along the walls- Along with the occasional, amusingly out-of-place posters for games, anime, or movies- While the desks and shelves contained all sorts of jars and vials and strange scientific apparatus. It looked like a wizard’s laboratory in an RPG, if the laboratory were occupied by nerdy modern teens. (Which, he supposed, was… Technically exactly what it was.)

All of this was overshadowed, however, by the overwhelmingly impossible to ignore centerpiece of the room: An obelisk carved from a dark granite, roughly six feet tall, with glowing red hieroglyphs that cast a strange light over the room.

“This is the study,” Yugi announced. “And this,” he said, gesturing to the stone monument, “Is our obelisk.”

“It’s enchanted,” Atem added with a grin, as Jounouchi stared in awe.

Yugi nodded. “Yup. It’s basically a big fancy clock,” he explained. “We came up with the idea after we took a nap for a while and woke up to find that Egypt was suddenly under Nubian rule, and we had no idea what year it was,” he said with a laugh.

“It took us years to develop the right kind of enchantment to make it work. Honestly, I’m still pretty proud of it.”

“Me too,” Yugi agreed with a nod. “Each side shows different information. So this one here tells us what time it is, and how long until sunset and sunrise, so we know when it’s safe to go outside. And this one…” He moved to the right, and Jounouchi followed him, glancing curiously up at the obelisk. “This says what year it is in the current local calendar, and how many years it’s been since we died. Then this side tells us the name and title of the current Egyptian political leader, and how long they’ve been reigning,” he said as he walked around to the far side of the obelisk.

“That’s actually how we used to date things in ancient times,” Atem added helpfully. “So instead of saying, ‘It’s the year of our Lord one-thousand-and-such-and-such,’ you would say, ‘It’s the such-and-suchth year of the reign of Pharaoh So-and-So.’ Which did kind of make historical timelines confusing, if you didn’t know what order the kings went in,” he admitted. “It also kind of sucked for periods where, say, there technically was no pharaoh, or when the country was divided into two different kingdoms.”

Upon hearing the questioning noise Jounouchi made, glancing at him confusedly, Atem sighed. “That kind of happened a lot,” he muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Yeah… Anyway, moving on,” Yugi said, walking around to the last remaining face of the obelisk. “This side shows the weather, and any upcoming holidays.”

Jounouchi nodded, watching it thoughtfully for a moment.

“It gets the data for the time and weather from the environment, and stuff like the calendar and political leaders it gets from scanning the brainwaves of people in the area,” Atem explained. “It took a long time to develop the magic for that.”

“It’s also a mood light!” Yugi added cheerfully as the hieroglyphs shifted color from red to purple.

Jounouchi gave a bark that sounded almost like a laugh, as Atem and Yugi led him back out of the room. By the time the obelisk was out of sight, the hieroglyphs had changed to a dramatic blue.

As they returned to the living room, Atem and Yugi turned the corner, leading Jounouchi down another corridor. At the end of it was a highly decorated room, with painted reliefs covering the walls and even the ceiling. In the middle of the room were two small, ornate sarcophagi, inlaid with gold and precious stones.

“This is our bedroom,” Atem told Jounouchi.

Jounouchi glanced curiously around the room. Much of the paintings on the walls had been covered up by posters; A bookshelf in one corner displayed a variety of figurines- Not hand-carved representations of historical figures or actors this time, but rather brightly painted, factory-made anime and game figures in dynamic poses. On the lower shelves were a number of games, CDs, cassette tapes, VHS tapes, and DVDs, though Jounouchi noted that the only electronic devices in the room were ones that ran on batteries. A Victorian-style dresser stood by one wall, with more figures on top of it, and two small chairs sat to the right side of the room, on either side of what appeared to be an old table with a built-in game board.

“Check this out,” Atem said, nodding towards the game board. “This is one of the oldest things we have. It’s a game board made for playing an Egyptian game called senet- It’s kind of like Sorry.”

“We’ve actually had this since we were kids,” Yugi added. “Atem almost set it on fire once, but I fixed it, so it’s fine now.”

Jounouchi frowned, and turned to Atem with a confused, suspicious look.

Atem simply shrugged. “What, haven’t  _ you  _ ever set a game on fire?”

...Jounouchi’s look of concern deepened.

“Anyway, that’s about it for our house,” Yugi finished. “The only thing you haven’t seen is the bathroom, but I mean… It’s the bathroom. There’s not much to see,” he admitted with a laugh. “What do you want to do now?”

Jounouchi paused for a moment to think about it, and yawned. After a while, he trotted towards the hall, back into the living room; Atem and Yugi followed behind him, and watched as he lay down on the pillows.

“Tired?” Yugi asked.

Jounouchi nodded.

“Are you gonna take a nap?”

Jounouchi nodded again, and yawned, settling down against the pillows with a sigh.

“Well, sleep well, then,” Yugi said, smiling gently. “We’ll-”

Jounouchi interrupted Yugi with a bark, and nodded towards him.

Yugi frowned in confusion. “Huh?”

“What’s up?” Atem wondered, sharing a similar expression to Yugi’s.

Jounouchi waved one paw, motioning for them to come closer. Yugi and Atem exchanged confused glances.

Atem frowned slightly. “You… Want us to come lie down with you..?” he guessed tentatively.

Jounouchi barked, and nodded with a wide smile.

Yugi and Atem hesitated for a moment before slowly approaching. They each laid down on either side of Jounouchi; Jounouchi gave a quiet bark, and put one paw over Yugi’s shoulder in a hug, nuzzling against his cheek.

Yugi smiled, and snuggled back, pleased with the unexpected affection. Atem hesitated for a moment longer, looking uncertain; Eventually, he slowly, cautiously moved closer, and rested his head against Jounouchi’s back. After a few minutes, he wrapped an arm around him as well.

“I think I’ll take a nap, too,” Yugi decided.

“Don’t sleep for too many years, or they’ll have another industrial revolution without us,” Atem teased.

Yugi snorted in disbelief. “Come on, I’m not going to hibernate! I’m just gonna nap for a little bit, maybe like an hour or two,” he insisted.

Atem laughed. “I know, I know, I’m just joking. I’m kinda sleepy too.”

“Nap time for everyone, then?” Yugi questioned.

Atem nodded. “I think so. Goodnight Yugi, goodnight Jounouchi.”

“Goodnight,” Yugi replied.

Jounouchi gave a quiet bark, and the three soon fell asleep.

* * *

Atem and Yugi awoke to the sound of pained whining.

“Ngh… Jounouchi? What’s wrong?” Yugi wondered sleepily, as Jounouchi shuddered where he lay on the floor.

Jounouchi gave Yugi a look of fear, and whimpered once again.

“Oh, come to think of it… It’s got to be going on morning by now,” Atem realized, glancing up at the ceiling (As if this would somehow tell him anything- The only “sky” to be seen was the old painting of the goddess Nut, stretched out over the land as she was wont to do.)

“Oh yeah… Is that what’s wrong? Is it time for you to turn back?” Yugi asked, glancing at Jounouchi.

Jounouchi nodded, and abruptly stood up; He began anxiously pacing the room, but stopped almost as suddenly as he’d started, shuddering and whining as he curled up close to the floor. Yugi could see him shaking, his breaths coming out as muffled whimpers.

“Go get that spell again,” Yugi told Atem, as he hurried over to comfort Jounouchi. “I think I put it on the bookcase over there.”

Atem nodded, and sure enough, it didn’t take long for him to locate the scroll in question; He unrolled it, and then frowned slightly.

“Will it still work? I mean, we only just did it a few hours ago,” he pointed out. “Are you sure it doesn’t need to like, recharge or something?”

Yugi shrugged. “I don’t know. But there’s no harm in trying, so we might as well,” he replied, as he gently stroked Jounouchi’s head and neck; If the gesture helped at all, he wasn’t sure, as Jounouchi’s complaints began to graduate from whimpers to howls. He stood up, pulling away from Yugi, and began running in frantic circles once more.

Atem bit his lip, nodded, and took a deep breath. Once again, he fell solemn as he began reciting the spell, doing his best to keep his voice steady despite the sound of Jounouchi’s anguished howls.

Jounouchi’s panic gradually began to die down, though his pain didn’t seem to disappear completely. It took a good twenty minutes or so of whimpering, crying, and writhing in pain until Jounouchi finally settled down completely; The last horrible crunching and popping in his bones died out, and he collapsed onto the floor, his breaths coming out slow and ragged.

“...Jounouchi?” Yugi questioned hesitantly.

Jounouchi groaned in response.

“Um… How are you feeling?” Yugi asked, his voice gentle and shy.

Jounouchi took a long, deep breath, and remained quiet for several seconds, before rolling onto his back and giving his response:

“My body hurts, my body hurts,” he sung in a quiet, hoarse, off-key mumble, and then gave a weak laugh.

Atem raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s how that song goes.”

“Yes it is,” Jounouchi replied, still lying on the floor. “Kesha told me so herself.”

“No, I’m pretty sure Luke Spiller and Adam Slack wrote that song,” Atem insisted.

“Shut up. Fuck you.”

“You don’t even know Kesha,” Atem continued, shaking his head and throwing his hands up in disbelief.

Jounouchi ignored him and groaned as he sat up, stretching out slowly, giving a wide yawn.

“Man… Thank you so much, guys, seriously,” he told Atem and Yugi as he stood up. “Not just for giving me a place to stay, but also, whatever that freaky vampire wizard shit you did was really badass! That whole thing was honestly pretty painless,” he said sincerely, with a wide grin.

Yugi’s eyes widened. “You consider  _ that  _ painless?” he blurted out in disbelief, utterly horrified.

Jounouchi smiled silently for a few seconds, a sort of distant look in his eyes. After a moment, he said nothing, and dabbed into his elbow.

“No… No, don’t dab on that,” Yugi whispered, shaking his head slowly. “Jounouchi, please. No. That’s horrifying.”

Jounouchi dabbed in the other direction.

“Anyway, thanks again for everything,” Jounouchi said cheerfully. “And… Thanks for not freaking out about me being a werewolf,” he added, more quietly.

“Well, thanks for not freaking out about us being vampires,” Atem replied.

Jounouchi shrugged. “Guess we’ve all got our secrets, huh,” he laughed. “Honestly, though, I’m… Kinda glad I told you guys. I’m- I’m usually alone on the full moon, so it was… Nice, having friends with me. That picnic was pretty fun.”

Yugi smiled. “Yeah, I think it’s nice to have friends you can be yourself around. Whenever Atem and I have made friends with humans in the past, we’ve usually had to keep our identities a secret- That, or they’ve been like, subtly weird about it,” he admitted with a thoughtful frown. “It really is nice that you didn’t freak out about it… You know, aside from the lizard decapitation thing. Sorry again about that.”

Jounouchi shrugged, giving a dismissive handwave. “Eh. I mean, to be fair, I’m not human either,” he pointed out. “Uh, speaking of that, though… I think we should tell the others. About all our shit.”

Jounouchi blinked as Yugi and Atem both blurted out a shocked,  _ “What?!” _

“N-No, listen, hear me out,” he pleaded, wincing at their loudness. “It _ is _ nice having people who know. Which isn’t why I’m suggesting it, exactly- I’m just thinkin’, like, now that you guys know that I’m a werewolf, and now that  _ I  _ know that  _ you’re  _ vampires, it’s going to be harder to keep it a secret, right? ‘Cause now that we, you know,  _ know  _ shit, eventually the others are going to figure out that we’re hiding something. And then they’ll start nagging us about it,” he explained. “Uh, do you get what I’m saying..?”

“I do, but I also completely don’t,” Atem replied, staring at him with a blank look. “You’re right, though.”

“Yeah, probably,” Yugi agreed with a sigh. “Should we tell them together, then?”

Jounouchi nodded. “Yeah. Probably best to explain in person rather than over Discord, so let’s try to get together tomorrow night,” he decided. “I’ll see if I can talk the others into it, and then I’ll message you when we get things figured out.”

“‘Kay,” Yugi replied.

With that, Jounouchi yawned, and stretched his arms over his head. “Alright, I should probably get going,” he realized. “Thanks again for everything, guys.”

Yugi smiled fondly. “No problem!”

“We’re happy to help,” Atem agreed with a nod.

“You can keep that amulet if you want to, by the way,” Yugi added, gesturing towards the pendant that hung on Jounouchi’s neck.

“Hmm?” Jounouchi blinked in surprise- He’d forgotten all about that, having barely even noticed it in his painful haze. 

He glanced down at his chest to find a small blue-green figurine attached to a gold chain; It was shaped like a figure with a falcon’s head, standing with one foot forward. On the figure’s head was a large disk, a crescent, and a tiny cobra.

“What is this, anyway?” he wondered, holding the amulet in one hand and looking it over curiously.

“It’s an amulet of Khonsu,” Yugi answered. “Remember? We talked about him back at the temple. Khonsu’s a god of the moon, as well as healing, so that amulet might help make your transformations a little easier- Although I don’t know how well it would work, if you don’t really believe in that sort of thing,” he admitted, frowning slightly. “But still, if you’d like it, you’re welcome to keep it.”

“Huh…”

Jounouchi went quiet for a moment, continuing to stare at the amulet as he thought about it. Deep down, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit touched at such a meaningful gift, regardless of the religious aspect of it.

“...You know what, I think I will keep it,” he decided with a nod. “I’m not really the religious type, but still… Friendship is magic, and all that,” he said, shrugging. “Thanks, Yugi.”

Yugi beamed, and reached out to pull Jounouchi into a hug; Jounouchi returned the hug in kind, bending over slightly to wrap his arms around his much smaller friend.

“Just don’t let anyone find out you have it,” Atem warned him. “There’s a lot of regulations these days about taking ancient artifacts out of Egypt. I don’t think the government would accept ‘gift from the actual owners of the item’ as a valid excuse.”

Jounouchi laughed, and nodded. “Alright, got it. I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

“See you later, then,” Yugi said, waving goodbye.

“Yep, see ya!”

“Wait, hold on,” Atem interrupted. “Jounouchi, can you actually get the door open on your own?” he wondered.

Jounouchi shrugged. “Depends. How much does it weigh?”

“It weights, uh, let’s see... Probably about… Uhhhhhhhh…” Atem trailed off, frowning and tilting his head in confusion as he thought about it. “...Many,” he decided after a moment, nodding slowly.

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’ll give it a shot, I guess…”

“Let us know if it’s too heavy for you,” Yugi told him. “Maybe if we open and close it fast enough, we won’t get burned..?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, you guys stay here where it’s dark,” Jounouchi insisted, waving a hand dismissively. “I got this. Talk to you later.”

“Bye, Jounouchi! Safe trip back!” Yugi said, waving cheerfully.

“Bye, talk to you tonight,” Atem added with a smile and a wave.

Jounouchi grinned, and threw up a peace sign. “Bye guys, have a good one! Thanks for having me over!”

“Thanks for coming!”

Atem and Yugi watched as Jounouchi climbed back up the slanted entry shaft, and moved to the sides of the room for safety as he reached the top, waiting for the door to open.

They waited for several minutes, with no change in the lighting.

“Jounouchi?” Yugi called out, hesitantly peeking around the corner. “Are you ok? Do you need help with the door?”

“Nah, I’m good!” Jounouchi shouted back, though his voice sounded strained.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright then, see you later,” Yugi replied, and leaned back against the wall once again.

Several more seconds passed. Atem and Yugi heard frustrated, strained growls coming from the hallway.

Atem frowned, raising an eyebrow. “Are you  _ sure  _ you-”

“I’m _ fine!” _ Jounouchi snapped.

Atem put his hands up in surrender, though he frowned as the outlook did not seem to improve much. He and Yugi heard increasingly more irritated grumbles, and a single frustrated cry of  _ “fuck”;  _ After several minutes, they finally heard the grinding of the old stone door, and a narrow beam of light appeared on the living room floor.

“Got it!” Jounouchi shouted down the hall. “Bye, guys!”

“Bye!” Yugi and Atem shouted back. 

A moment later, after a slow grind and a distant shout of “Jesus  _ fucking  _ christ, who designed this stupid heavy ass bullshit?!”, the door slammed shut once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Infodumps about ancient Egypt, but like, in a cool and hip gamer way) Parkour?


End file.
